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1. That in Christ and only in Him alone we are freed from the dominion of death and, as His wise disciple wrote to us, “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), anyone can, if he wants, find out in many other ways. For in the inspired Scripture there are countless bright and clear images in which the power of this sacrament shines through and is reflected. Therefore, now we, collecting what is useful for this, will show it in the future. “Moses and Aaron,” it is narrated here, went out into the middle and, going “to Pharaoh,” they clearly said: “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let My people go, so that they may celebrate a feast for Me in the wilderness. But Pharaoh said: Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice and let...Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go. They said...: The God of the Jews has called us; let us go into the desert for a three-day journey to offer a sacrifice to the Lord our God, so that He does not strike us with a plague or a sword. And the king of Egypt said to them: Why do you, Moses and Aaron, distract the people... from their work? go... to your work” (Ex. 5:1–4). Filled with devilish madness, the frantic Pharaoh says that he does not know who the God of the Jews is. When we were struck by frequent and unbearable executions, and when almost the entire country of Egypt perished, since the waters of the Egyptians turned into blood, then locusts and hail were brought upon their land, then scythes and toads rose upon them, and then a three-day darkness spread over that land, then only, and even then reluctantly, did he promise to free the Jews. But even after that he remained hard-hearted, stubborn and completely adamant, I say, to decide to free the Israelites from such a long slavery. Then God decided to send the destroyer against the firstborn of Egypt. since it was necessary to fear that, along with the wicked generations, the chosen and beloved would not perish for the sake of the fathers, God established the law about Easter and, before the fulfillment of his wrath, very rightly commanded that the sacrament of Christ be performed. Through this you can again easily understand how difficult it was for death to be abolished through Moses or the law. But the Honest Blood of Christ removes the destroyer from us and delivers the sanctified from corruption. For He is life from life and God of all, as God is from God. Therefore this is what the Holy Scripture says: And “And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, Let this month be unto you the beginning of months; let it be the first among you among the months of the year. Tell the whole congregation... of Israel: on the tenth day of this month, let each one take for himself one lamb according to his family, one lamb per family; and if the family is so small that it cannot eat the lamb, then let it take it from its neighbor closest to its house” (Ex. 12:1-4). Then, having determined what should take the lamb, he also gives orders about what the sacrifice should be, when and how it should be performed. It is said, “You shall have a lamb without blemish, male, one year old; take it from the sheep, or from the goats, and let it be kept with you until the fourteenth day of this month: then let all the assembly of the congregation of Israel slaughter it in the evening, and let them take some of its blood and put it on both the doorposts and on the lintel of the doors of the houses where they eat it; let them eat his meat this very night, baked on the fire; let them eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; Do not eat it half-baked, or boiled in water, but eat it baked over fire, the head with legs and entrails; do not leave it until the morning;... but what is left of it until the morning you shall burn in the fire” (Ex. 12:5-10). The legislator then adds to this, teaching what the outward appearance of those who eat the lamb should be and how they should be prepared to touch the most sacred sacrifice. “Eat it this way,” it is said: “Let your loins be girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staffs in your hands, and eat it with haste: this is the Passover of the Lord” (Ex. 12:11). And wanting to console them, he clearly shows why the lamb must be slaughtered. And “I will go through the land of Egypt,” He says, “and I will strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from man to beast, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. And the blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and I will see the blood and pass by you, and there will be no destructive plague among you when I strike the land of Egypt” (Ex. 12:12-13). Then a little later: “For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; from the very first day you shall destroy leaven from your houses” (Exodus 12:15). And having determined the punishment for the transgression of this commandment, he adds: “And on the first day you shall have a sacred assembly, and on the seventh day you shall have a sacred assembly: no work shall be done in them; these are; but again, taking them apart in parts, we will try to attach to each the meaning appropriate to it, applying the power of what is signified in a variety of ways to Christ Himself. 2. The time of the sacrifice is determined at the beginning of the year, in the first month. For the beginning of everything is Christ (Col. 1:18), since He did not appear in time because of His birth from God the Father before the ages. He Himself sanctifies at all times from beginning to end, but there is a special celebration, as it were, in the month of new fruits. “The old things have passed away,” according to the words of Blessed Paul (2 Cor. 5:17): “Behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17; Isa. 43:19; Rev. 21:5). And human nature blossomed again into its original state in Christ. And to the children of Israel, when they were still slaves and lived under the power of tormentors (since they were still in the land of Egypt), the above was commanded so that through this commandment, in turn, figuratively indicate that the human soul can only ascend to freedom from sin, avoid the violence of the devil and move to the highest city from being in the world, as soon as through communion with Christ and according to His love for mankind, according to what was said by Himself to the wicked Jews: “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. But the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So, if the Son sets you free, you will be truly free” (John 8:34-36). And again: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you will not have life in you” (John 6:53). The image of this life (life) can perfectly serve as the land of promise, to which they sought to move from Egypt. Next, a lamb is taken on the tenth day of the month and kept until the fourteenth, to be slain in the evening. What is this for? someone asks. The reason for this is truly deep. What would prevent him, tell me, from being taken on the first day of the month? Or what prompted God to legislate that the sacrifice, after observing it for five days, should only be slain in the evening? For we will find five days in number, starting from the tenth and leading in order to the fourteenth. So, the very fact that the lamb is taken not on the first, but on the tenth day of the month, seems to signify that many times have passed and many centuries have passed before us, in which God always was and is and will be. Then comes immediately after them this next age of ours, which, like the five-day path we have just passed, is divided into five times. What we are studying will be very well understood by the parable of the Savior, which has the following allegory: “For the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard, and, having agreed with the workers on a denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard; going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idly in the marketplace, and he said to them, “Go you too into my vineyard, and whatever comes next I will give you.” They went. Coming out again around the sixth and ninth hours, he did the same. Finally, going out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing idly, and said to them: Why have you been standing here all day idly? They tell him: no one hired us. He says to them: “Go you also into my vineyard” (Matthew 20:1–7). Don’t you see in this our age is very clearly and clearly divided into five whole times? And we consider the first time to be that in which the forefather Adam still had his stay in paradise. The second after this, signified as “the third hour,” is the one in which Noah and his contemporaries lived. The third, as if at the “sixth” hour, is the one in which God, who is above all, called Abraham to the knowledge of the truth. The fourth, which was, as it were, “at the ninth hour,” is the time of Moses and the prophets. “About the eleventh hour”, that is, at the fifth time, when the day was already shortening, and when the present age seemed to be coming to an end, Christ hired the pagans, who had not been called by anyone else to the knowledge of God in former and past times. That is why the last of all say: “no one hired us.” So, the lamb is taken from the five days on the first day, that is, on the tenth, which represents the image of the beginning of the century, and having been observed until the last time, that is, until the fourteenth, it is slain in the evening, so that you again understand that the sacrament of Christ is neither newer nor recent, but was observed in the foreknowledge of the Father from the very foundation of the world (cf. Eph. 3:9). Christ died for us in the last times of the age, when the mental and Divine light had not yet shone, when the earth was still immersed in the darkness of ignorance, and when the rulers of the darkness of this age desecrated the hearts of all with delusions. That is why the Savior who came to earth said: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12, 9:5). “Lights in the world”, containing the word of life, are called saints (Phil. 2:15), who therefore rightly hear the words: “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14), since they can sanctify those in darkness. But you will be surprised again when you find another mysterious structure in this. The lamb is slain on the fourteenth day of the month, when the circle of the moon has its full shine and, as it were, illuminates the universe with a false light, however, in such a way that little by little it begins to stop this light and, as if by necessity, already reduces the honor and grace inherent in it. From here you can understand, as if from the image and canopy of the matter brought to your attention, guided to the perception of the truest thing, that throughout the entire universe the prince of the night was glorified, that is, the devil, symbolized by the moon as if in an image (since the moon is placed at the “beginning of the night”, Gen. 1, 16), and as if a false light, the wisdom of this world, shedding into the hearts erring, thereby gaining complete glory for himself. Christ died for us and for us, the true “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and destroyed the glory of the devil. For it had to cease and be destroyed little by little, as many pagans began to hasten to ascend to peace and love of God through turning to Him and faith in Him. And this was precisely what was sung of old in the psalms about Christ: “in his days the righteous will prosper, and there will be abundance of peace until the moon ceases” (Ps. 71:7). Indeed, in the days of Christ righteousness shone through faith, and abundance of peace through turning to God. And, moreover, the prince of the night, that is, the devil, was also taken away. Note that the moon, they say, was not just taken away, but moreover, it was taken away in exchange for something, since the devil, who first killed a person, in retribution for that, kills himself. “Let each one take,” it is said, “one lamb according to his family” (Ex. 12:3). For Christ who is perfect dwells in everyone through the communion of the Holy Spirit, and is not divided, as Paul says (1 Cor. 1:13). However, it is said “and if the family is so small that it will not eat the lamb, then let it take it from its neighbor closest to its house” (Ex. 12:4); that is, those who do not have those among them who could alone understand the perfect mystery of Christ, or even those who are incapable of understanding it due to the weakness of their minds, can partake of Him by accepting fellow believers as co-workers and associates. For through mutual instruction we can sometimes ascend to our highest speculations. So, undoubtedly, this wise eunuch, listening to the prophecies about Christ, asked Philip: “I ask you to tell me: about whom is the prophet saying this? Is it about yourself or about someone else? (Acts 8:34). You see how, having taken a neighbor with him (since we are all close to each other in relation to the same foundation of faith), he already turned out to be a partaker of the mental Lamb through his research; because he was immediately awarded baptism, and was baptized. “You must have a lamb without blemish” (Ex. 12:5), because in Christ all the signs of divine dignity are united. But let there also be a “male sex,” added the legislator, for He was and is the one who sows the seeds of knowledge of God in all of us and leads us, as it were, into some desired land, as the prophetic word says, sacrificing humanity to God and the Father through the Gospel preaching. In addition, let the “one-year-old” “be”, either in time, so that it would not be imperfect if he had not yet reached the age of one year from birth, or because those who receive benefits from this suffering had to celebrate the most divine feast of the suffering of Christ every year (Ex. 12:5). “Take it from the sheep or from the goats,” it says (Ex. 12:5). The lamb is considered by law to be a pure and unblemished sacrifice, and goats are always offered on the altar for sins. You will find this also in Christ; because He was Himself both as an immaculate sacrifice, offering “to Himself... to the stench of fragrance to God and” to the Father (Eph. 5:2), and like a goat, slain for our sins. After the slaughter of the lamb, He commands that the doorposts (rootstocks) of the doors of dwellings and the threshold be anointed with his blood, wanting to signify nothing else by this, as it seems to me, but that with the glorious and honest blood we We establish our earthly home, that is, the body, expelling from it the deadness that comes from crime through the communion of life. For the communion of Christ brings us life and sanctification. And by frightening the destroyer, through the anointing we remove as far as possible the plotting demon, we mortify the passions that arise from carnal movements. By the “doors” of the house we mentioned we can understand our feelings, through which the qualities of things are perceived in the hearts of all. an immeasurable multitude of lusts flows in. The prophet Joel names these doors, saying: some “enter into (our) windows like a thief” (Joel. 2:9), because they were not anointed with the Blood of Christ. And he commands people to eat meat on the same night, that is, in the present age. This is what Paul also called him, saying: “The night has passed, but the day has come” (Rom. 13:12), in these words the day clearly denoting the future century, which Christ Himself illuminates. So, “they will eat meat,” it is said, in this age (Ex. 12:8). For as long as we remain in this world, we will partake of Christ through His Holy Flesh and Precious Blood in a sensual way. When we appear “on the day of power” of Him, as it is written (Ps. 109:3), and enter into the “lordship of the saints” (Ps. 109:3), then we will be sanctified in some other way and in the way that the Manager and Giver of future blessings knows. On the other hand, the communion of the Holy Body, as well as the drinking of His saving Blood, includes confession of suffering and, by God’s Providence, the death of Christ raised up for us. This is what He Himself says in one place, when He laid down the laws for His known ones about this sacrament: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim My death” (1 Cor. 11:26; cf.: Luke 22:20). So, in the present age, through the communion of the one now named, we will truly proclaim His death; when He finally appears in the glory of the Father, it would no longer be a good time if we brought Him confession of His suffering, but we know Him openly as God, “face to face,” as Paul says (1 Cor. 13:12). For we will glorify Him as Master. Having once died, He “dies no more: death no longer has power over Him,” according to the words of Paul (Rom. 6:9). That is why he said: “From now on we know no one according to the flesh; but even if we knew Christ in the flesh, now we no longer know” (2 Cor. 5:16). Then we will understand more clearly, not through the fact that He became man, but from the fact that He is the true God, since then the dispensation by which He became flesh will be fulfilled. Speeches about the incarnation will probably be abolished, but greater knowledge will come and a certain Divine understanding of the salvation accomplished by Him in divine glory will shine in us. “Baked with fire” commands us to eat the “flesh” of the lamb because those who begin communion with Christ must be fervent in spirit (Ex. 12:8). Paul also commands them to burn “in spirit” (Rom. 12:11). But even unleavened bread “with a bitter potion,” he says, “will be consumed” (Ex. 12:8), figuratively indicating that those who have become partakers of Christ must feed their souls as if unleavened and with the purest desires, accustoming themselves to a life alien to deceit and free from depravity; and therefore should not refuse the bitterness of temptation, according to what someone said: “My son, if you are about to serve the Lord God, then prepare your soul for temptation: guide your heart and be strong” (Sir. 2:1-2). But “do not eat it,” he says (Ex. 12:9). What does this mean? they refine the words about Christ through research, do not burn him on fire and do not test him, according to what David sang: “and in my teaching the fire will burn” (Ps. 38:4). Then he also forbids eating what is boiled in water, indicating by this that a watery, so to speak, and frivolous opinion about Him will not serve as healthy food for the minds of believers. A watery opinion about Him is when they do not represent Him as God by nature, but relegate Him to the category of creatures, which is ignorant to do and some are not afraid, who at their own will pervert what is said about Him according to the intention of God for the sake of incarnation and make out of this, as it were, some kind of food for their inherent wickedness. So, “it is not carried away ...,” he says, “boiled in water, but only baked by fire” (Ex. 12:9), for the reason already announced above, and also because “the words of the Lord were kindled with fire” (Ps. 11:7). All words about His Divinity are hot and have nothing watery or cooled, again according to what was said in the book of Psalms: “Your word is very pure, and Thy servant loved him” (Ps. 119:140). “The head with the feet and the womb” (Ex. 12:9) commands to be eaten, desiring that a completely complete knowledge of His sacrament should dwell in the minds of believers. For first of all, it must be known that in the beginning the Word, being God, was in the Father and with the Father: this means the head, which serves as the beginning of the whole sacrament. And that, further, being God, He will come again as a Judge, having to put an end to the dispensation of us, this is indicated to us by the legs, which make up the end of the whole body. By entrails you must understand the hidden and, as it were, in the middle, word about the incarnation. Thus, all faith is encompassed by this; and through such knowledge the whole and perfect Christ dwells in us. For this reason, I think, John said: “he is and was and is to come” (Apoc. 1:8). Then again the legislator commands, saying: “You will not leave him until morning” (Ex. 12:10). By this allegorically, as it seems, He forbids the disapproving postponement of the desire for perfect understanding. Let not, as He so says, put off for a long time the perfect and true knowledge of Him, and let not some beware of the untimeliness of the grace of His perfect communion, having once received Him and touched Him. This is precisely what those do who, having tasted the teachings of Christ through publicity, are nevertheless wary of enlightenment through the Spirit and the grace of Baptism, postponing this for a long and indefinite time, that is, until old age. From here great and unexpected harm occurs, especially if someone is guided only by his own advice and does not have firm hope. When he reaches the end of his goal, then he is sanctified, but only has one remission of sins and brings to his Master a fruitless talent, without taking care to acquire anything for this talent for Him. But “you will not break any bones from it,” it is said (Ex. 12, 10, 46). Bones are always difficult for our teeth to eat. The same, in a sense, for the human mind is the white, so to speak, Word hidden in its Divinity. For that the Son is God by His very nature and that He is born of God the Father, we believe in this, quite rightly understanding, but we do not investigate, according to the word of the holy man. For who can tell about the manner of His birth? And is not the prophet true when he cries: “Who can explain His generation? for He is cut off from the land of the living?” (Isa. 53, 8.) So, in this place He calls the hardness of dogmas that exceed the mind “bones.” The legislator does not allow us to crush them; they are crushed within themselves by the heretics who are completely seduced from the right path. They explore the method of the Divine and ineffable birth, suffering from an incomparable kind of unreason and not taking into account what is written: “Who measured ... the sky in an inch?” (Isa. 40:12.) Therefore, we rightly refuse to crush the bones of the lamb, prudently stopping before this and rather accepting by faith what is above us. But we must remember that what is written in a historical sense can be accepted about our Savior, since Pilate’s soldiers did not crush “His legs” as it is written (John 19:33). What remains of the lamb “until the morning” must be burned, he says (Ex. 12:10). Morning again refers to the enlightenment that will take place in the next century, when we will see our King and God “face to face,” and not as now, “in fortune telling” and in the mirror, in the shadow “in part,” as Paul says (1 Cor. 13:12) So, that the contemplation of Him in fortune-telling at that time is in some way likely to be destroyed through the clearest knowledge, He indicates this, as if in a prototype, with the words that what remains of it (the lamb) should be burned with fire until the morning. But He commands those who eat to have the following appearance: “Your loins shall be girded,” it is said, “Your shoes shall be on your feet, and your staffs in your hands, and you shall eat it with haste: this is the Passover of the Lord” (Ex. 12:11). Girdling of the loins can be a sign of vigor and youthful spirit, according to what was said by God to the righteous Job: “Today gird up your loins like a man” (Job 38:3). And also from one of the prophets: “And righteousness will be the girdle of His waist” (Is. 11:5), instead of: cheerful and courageous for righteousness. “Shoes” mean the readiness of the will to move without slowing down where God wants. So Paul writes in this sense: “and having shod your feet with the preparation of preaching peace” (Eph. 6:15). And to this also the prophet Jeremiah: “So, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only this is that you should fear the Lord your God and walk in all His ways” (Deut. 10:12; cf.: Mic. 6, 8.) And the rod in the hands indicates hope that strengthens us and supports us in patience, according to what was said by the prophets: “Trust in the Lord, and be strong in God” (Is. 50:10). Further, “with diligence” (Ex. 12:11) he commands to eat the lamb, showing very clearly that he who is worthy of communion with Christ should not be lazy or careless in good deeds, but should have diligence and an ardent readiness for what can benefit him. And pay attention again to what Blessed Paul writes in his Epistle: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the reward? So run to receive” (1 Cor. 9:24). Assuming that we must extract useful things from everywhere, I will move on to another consideration. The law does not want to see him sanctified through Christ in any way pampered or negligent, but clothes him in clothing befitting travelers, probably pointing to one or the other: either that what happened in the prototype and shadow will one day pass away and be transformed into truth, or that he who has once communed with Christ must, using vigorous and very fast legs, a readiness for good, to strive for every virtue, passing by and avoiding vile worldly pleasures. He immediately gives the reason why the Christian we have just named should present himself as such, precisely by saying: “Easter is the Lord’s” (Ex. 12:11), that is, passing away. For we are passing from a worldly life to a God-loving life. Then again, immediately making it clear to them what and how great benefit they gain from this, he promises to smite every firstborn in the land of Egypt, and for themselves, who eat the lamb, the blood, he says, will serve as a sign that they will be under His protection in order not to be destroyed when He brings about defeat in the land of Egypt. For God punishes the rebellious and disobedient and those who do not participate in the holiness given by Christ. He recognizes and deigns the gracious care of only those who are anointed with the blood of the true Lamb, and does not allow the sanctified to perish along with the wicked, but shows them special love for mankind. Then, for seven whole days, he commands those who have eaten the sacred lamb to eat unleavened bread, through this, as it seems to me, convincing those sanctified through Christ to feed their souls with the purest desires and removed from all depravity. And “the first and seventh day will be called holy,” it is said (Ex. 12:16). For holy is the time that existed at the beginning of existence, when our forefather Adam had not yet been expelled from paradise for a crime, but lived in it and still kept the commandment given to him. Holy again and last time for the sake of Christ, who justifies those who come to Him in faith and again raises us to the state in which we were in the beginning. So, in this the whole mystery of our Savior was prefigured for us. Therefore, He Himself spoke very well to the Jews: “For if you believed Moses, you would have believed Me, because he wrote about Me” (John 5:46). 1. We have been redeemed from this beginning, “given to you from your fathers” according to what is written, “you were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver or gold, from a vain life..., but with the precious blood of Christ, as a spotless and spotless Lamb, predestined before the foundation of the world, but who appeared in the last times for you” (1 Pet. 1:18-20). For, being God by nature and in image and equality with God and the Father (Phil. 2:7), He “appeared on earth and lived among men” (Bar. 3:38); being the Only Begotten, He is also called the firstborn (Rom. 8:29; cf.: Col. 1:18). So He Himself said about us to the Heavenly Father and God in one place in the book of Psalms: “I will proclaim Your name to my brothers, in the midst of the congregation I will praise You” (Ps. 21:23; sn.: Heb. 2:12). Having taken upon Himself humanity and, according to God’s dispensation, brought Himself down to the state in which we find ourselves, He “is not ashamed to call them brethren” of us (Heb. 2:11), since through Him we too were called “to adoption as sons” (Eph. 1:5). And it is true, and it is testified by the very works that the Father gave His Son as a ransom for the salvation of us all. So Paul says: we are “bought ... with a price” and are not “our own” (1 Cor. 6:20, 19). But “one died for all... , so that we all no longer live for ourselves, but for him who died for us and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14-15). That in this way each of those saved by Christ and, as it were, greatly enriched in conformity with Him through sanctification in the Spirit, owes his life to God, this can be clear from the fact that the wise Moses says to the ancients: “And when the Lord brings you... into the land of Canaan, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you, - separate to the Lord everything... that opens the lie; and every firstborn of the livestock that you have, male..., - to the Lord, and every donkey that opens..., replace it with a lamb; and if you do not replace it, buy it back; and you shall ransom every firstborn of man from your sons” (Ex. 13:11-13). When the church of Israel was gathered in time at Horeb, he addressed it with the same words and again legitimized it, saying: “Give me the firstborn of your sons; do the same with your ox and with your sheep. Let them be with their mother for seven days, and on the eighth day give them to Me. And you will be holy people to Me” (Ex. 22:29-31). 2. Very opportunely, the God of all demands the dedication of everything to Himself and confirms that we must devote the male sex to Him. When the firstborn of Egypt perished, and beloved Israel was saved in its entirety and escaped the destroyer, anointed with the blood of the lamb, which was a type of Christ, who for our sake was among the dead in order to abolish death, then what was saved was no longer in justice; it was acquired by someone who was exposed to danger and became his property. Just as by force they liberate those who were subject to the barbarians, and by means of battle with the latter, delivering them from the yoke of slavery unexpectedly placed upon them, they almost take the place of their rulers, acquiring with their own blood those taken from the barbarians: in the same way, I think, our Lord Jesus Christ, having bound a crowd of unclean demons and shed His blood for us, and thus removing death and destroying corruption, makes us His own after that, as if we were no longer living our own life, but His. For if He had not died for us, then we would not have been saved, and if He had not been among the dead, then the painful power of death would not have been shaken. Likewise, the divine Paul taught the mysteries of those saved through Christ: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:19-20). Therefore, just as the Israelites seemed to live the life of a slain lamb, so we no longer live our own life, but the life of Christ who died for us, although He lived again: because He was life by nature, like God. So, our life should be holy, because such is the life of Christ. And having decided to live holy, we will acquire His most wonderful image, becoming conformed to Him who for our sake was made like us, the Only Begotten as God, the firstborn in humanity, and at the same time we will be a sacred and truly acceptable offering to God and the Father. In this way the firstborn and the male sex are sanctified, because both are understood in the image of Christ. For just as at the time when mothers brought babies, and our Lord Jesus Christ very willingly received them and cried out to the holy disciples: “Let the children come and do not hinder them from coming to Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:14): so you can understand here: God and the Father loves the firstborn, as expressed in the image of Christ. Further, from the firstborn only the male sex is chosen, because in truth Christ must preserve the beauty that is most becoming to Him, even in that which is formed in His image, as if in the form of the firstborn. For He is the firstborn and at the same time the male sex, since He did not know the effeminacy of sin, of which the female sex serves as an image. Thus, those who bear the image of Christ should avoid thoughts characteristic of the female sex, and drive away from themselves, as something truly disgusting and hateful, effeminacy, licentiousness and weakness, and, on the contrary, accept the readiness befitting the male sex to exercise in virtue. “Everything that opens the womb of a donkey” (Ex. 13:13) is changed into a sheep. What is the basis for this? According to the law, a donkey is an unclean and nasty animal, and a sheep is clean, which is why it is offered instead of a donkey. Through this, the law again figuratively indicates to us that through Christ the unclean is made holy, and the unclean - clean, and the unpleasant - pleasant. since we were sinners and unclean, He Himself became a Holy Sacrifice and an offering of fragrance for us; because He died for sinners, the righteous for the unrighteous, the clean for the unclean, just as the sheep was replaced by a donkey. The firstborn of men are redeemed according to their worth, by gifts or by offering a price. For what reason? - For the reason that what is dedicated in general and sanctified to God must certainly be sacrificed; and God, who created everything into non-corruption, withdraws from murder. He “does not create death, nor rejoices at the destruction of the living,” as it is written (Wis. 1:13). And he does not rejoice over perishing people, as well as over unclean demons; on the contrary, he commands us to even give a ransom for a person and, as it were, loudly confess that we owe our lives to Him. This is also indicated by the didrachm mentioned in the Gospel, which He commanded to be paid (Matthew 17:24-27). By the true ransom given for all is meant Christ Himself, through Whom and in Whom we have overcome corruption; because He gave Himself for us. Further, “for seven days,” it is said, the lamb must be “with its mother, and on the eighth day” it must be offered (Ex. 22:30). For the firstborn was not slain when it was just born; but when it matured a little, feeding on its mother’s milk, and became somewhat stronger, then, and only then, did God declare it fit for the smell of fragrance. And this can also be an image of the mysterious and necessary, which we observe to this day, dedicating usually the verbal firstborn to the God who rules over everything. For we do not bring to the Divine and bloodless sacrifice those who have just been called to faith, have begun to begin the rudiments of faith and have not yet been introduced into the mysteries of faith; but on the contrary, we present them after a preliminary announcement, after being with the mother, that is, the Church, and after milking them, as it were, with some kind of milk, befitting babies and tender ones, in a word. So the divine Paul writes in his Epistle to those who have not yet entered the state of perfection, saying: “He fed you with milk and not with solid food, for you were not yet able, and even now you are not able” (1 Cor. 3:2). And in another Epistle: “Everyone who is fed with milk is ignorant of the word of truth, because he is a child; solid food is characteristic of the perfect, whose senses are trained by skill to distinguish between good and evil” (Heb. 5:13-14). Thus, we bring those who have matured and are sufficiently educated with catechetical words on the eighth day, that is, after the passage of time in which they were in infancy, and after the arrival of another time, when the Mystery of Christ could have been entrusted to them in a timely and appropriate manner. For the eighth day marks for us the time of the Resurrection, when Christ, having endured death for us, came to life, to whom we are spiritually conformed, dying through holy Baptism, in order to achieve the Resurrection. This is also assured by Paul, who writes: “we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). So, when we are reborn through faith into the knowledge of the truth and already abound in likeness to our Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sake and among us became the firstborn; then when we drink the verbal and unflattering milk, reaching “to the measure of the age of fulfillment” of Him, as it is written (Eph. 4:13): then, and only then, do we become sacred and consecrated to God, mentally dying to the world, while living holy to God. For this, I think, means the slaughter of the firstborn of the cattle at the altar itself. The divine Paul also writes to those who are so sanctified: “For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). So sacred is the death of saints, and it seems that blessed David looked at such a death when he said: “honorable before the Lord is the death of His saints” (Ps. 115:6). And the meaning of what we have just said can be applied, as I think, not only to those among the pagans who turn to the knowledge of the truth, but most of all to those who are called from the service of the law to justification in Christ and sanctification in the Spirit. The lamb or calf was fed from the mother for seven days, and on the eighth day it was brought to God, through which God figuratively (for the law was this) indicated that those who were to be sacred and offered up to God as a fragrant aroma had to be given birth to children in advance through prototypes and, as it were, by teachings not so much for men as for infants. The favorable time, most appropriate for such perfection, is the sacrament of Christ, signified by the eighth day. So, God is not accessible through service according to the law, but can only be accessible through Christ alone. It is said: “Through Him we both have access” (Eph. 2:18), as if after the eighth day, that is, at a time when sabbath keeping according to the law had already passed, or in general and mainly the service according to the law had ceased. It is said: “The law brought nothing to perfection” (Heb. 7:19): Christ brings it to this, because those who have believed and received perfect knowledge through Christ are capable of virtue, since we have His mind, through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. About Marah, and about the tree shown to blessed Moses 1. The Israelites, rising from the land of Egypt, as soon as they threw off the unbearable yoke of slavery, walked in the middle of the sea, as if on dry land, and did this without difficulty. For the waters, obeying the commands of the Divine, hardened like a wall. Then, seeing Pharaoh with all his army exposed to danger and drowned in the waters, and so miserably perished those who had once treated them mercilessly and cruelly, they sang songs to God and, sending up songs of thanksgiving to Him, said: “I sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; he threw his horse and rider into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my glory, He was my salvation” (Ex. 15:1-2). With the benefit of all, God performed this miracle. For, although He showed them very many and wonderful signs in Egypt, He also added out of curiosity that He translated those who submitted to His guidance across the sea itself, so that they would have a mind firmly established in themselves and believe that He is not like the false gods, that is, inventions of human art and all sorts of idols made of wood and stone; but that He, being the Lord of all, commands the creation as being under His power, and whatever He wants to do, He does everything easily. And so that they would benefit even more in surprise, He commanded them to set out with a large reserve and strive for the land promised to the fathers under the military leadership and leadership of the wise Moses. What happened after this will be made clear again by the Holy Scriptures. For “Moses,” it is said, “led the Israelites from the Red Sea, and they entered the desert of Shur; and they walked three days through the desert and found no water. They came to Marah, and could not drink the water in Marah, for it was bitter, which is why that [place] was named Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” [Moses] cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There God gave the people a charter and a law and tested them there. And he said, If you will obey the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and listen to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon Egypt, for I am the Lord... your healer. And they came to Elim; There were twelve springs of water and seventy date trees, and they camped there by the waters” (Ex. 15:22–27). See how prudently He does not allow them, having been liberated not without difficulty, enjoying the abundance of joy, to pass on to idleness, so that, very quickly forgetting about the one who could deliver them, they would not easily return to the error of Egypt. For labors and sorrows lead to God. So the prophet says: “Lord! in distress he sought You; poured out quiet prayers when Your punishment befell him” (Is. 26:16). Likewise, they, passing through a vast and waterless land, suffered a lack of necessities for life. They “found no water” (Ex. 15:22); and after their thirst has continued for the third day, with difficulty they finally find what they want. But this was completely useless: the water of Marah was bitter and did not give those who were thirsty hope that they could, as they say, avoid death. They could hardly bear it and blamed the intercessor: Moses was grieving. Then, when the omniscient God showed him the tree, he put it in the water, and its streams suddenly became sweet and easy to drink. Having drunk the water and received the benefit, they were surprised at the Divine sign and then set up their camp at twelve springs of water, where there were seventy date stalks. There they were in pleasure. So, that in faith and in nothing else the way of salvation could be found, God convinced us through shadows and types. That is why He ordered the lamb to be slaughtered in Egypt and wanted to assure that those anointed with blood would ward off the death sent to the firstborn. For will not someone say, and quite rightly, that this was a preparation for faith? because, tell me, how could death fear the slaughter of a sheep? But this case was a prototype of the sacrament. Christ, by His Blood, delivers those sanctified in faith and reveals them to be conquerors over the corruption of death. And what, in turn, the event at Marah means, we will say about this now, if possible. 2. Inspired Scripture likens the Divine Word to water. For just as sensual water is life-giving for bodies, so the Divine word, if it touches the mind, will bring it no small benefit. For this reason, Christ, talking with crowds of Jews, called out to them, saying: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). And to the Samaritan woman: “Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst” (John 4:13-14). So, the Israelites, leaving their God-hating service to the Egyptians, set out to bring to an end what God wanted. But not yet being procreated by the given laws from above, not yet having tasted the waters of thought, they had within themselves a kind of dry and thirsty mind. Then they reached Marah; but they could not drink the water: “for it was bitter” (Ex. 15:23). And after Moses put wood in it, the water changed its natural bitterness. So what does Marah mean? This, I might say, is the letter of the law; because the law is bitter if it is a punisher. So the divine Paul said: “Whoever rejects the law of Moses, in the presence of two or three witnesses, without mercy, is punished with death” (Heb. 10:28). Do you see that it was bitter and inconvenient even for those who wanted to fulfill it? Therefore, the Divine disciples clearly spoke to those who convinced some, after accepting the faith, to return again to serving according to the law: “Why are you now tempting God, wanting to place on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither our fathers nor we could bear?” (Acts 15:10) Therefore, blessed Paul calls the commandment given through the wise Moses the ministry of condemnation. It was he who said this: “For if the ministry of condemnation is glorious, much more will the ministry of justification abound in glory” (2 Cor. 3:9). He said in another place: “the letter kills, but the spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6), by letter (letter) clearly, as I think, calling the law, but by spirit - service in the spirit, that is, the gospel; because the law is bitter. And Marah means bitter. And that instruction through the law in itself, as far as it consists of prototypes, is not able to revive, it is unnecessary to expand on this. For “by the law no one is justified before God,” as it is written (Gal. 3:11). But that the law itself will only be life-giving and free from bitterness according to the letter if it is accepted in the sense of a prototype of the sacrament of Christ: “the end of the law is Christ for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4); that is, if we understand it spiritually: and this can also be clearly illustrated by what happened at Marah. For the tree signifies the cross of the Savior, or His sacrament; and if it is accepted by the followers of the law, then they will find the bitter sweet. For believers in Christ, the law does not serve as an accuser and punisher, but as a life-giver, as long as history is correctly transformed by us into spiritual contemplation and guides us to Christ, Who is life and life-giving. Then, and only then, will the law determine justifications and judgments for us, since it will lead to what is pleasing to God, will show the path leading to everything that is best and will put us outside the fear of punishment. For every plague, it is said, “which the Egyptians brought, I will not bring upon you” (Ex. 15:26). So, for those of those under the law who accepted this sacrament, there remains a good hope of avoiding punishment. And this, I think, is what the Savior himself said to the Jewish people during his coming: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). And again: “believe... in the Son you will not... be condemned” (John 3:18). So, when we accept the justifications of Christ, then, and only then, will we come to Elim, which means “ascent.” For we ascend from our ancient infancy into a perfect mind and, having reached the measure of “the age of the fulfillment of Christ” (Eph. 4:13), we will delight in the sources of mental waters. And these twelve sources depict to us the face of the holy Apostles. The apostles are also represented by seventy date stalks; for it is written that after the holy Apostles “the Lord chose seventy others” (Luke 10:1). And that the Divine disciples are truly sources, pouring out to us the Divine, saving and necessary word for life, this is very clearly indicated to those justified in the law by the God of all, so saying: “And in joy you will draw water from the sources of salvation” (Is. 12:3). About every saint, the divine Psalmist says: “The righteous will flourish like a date tree” (Ps. 91:13). And don’t be surprised at this; since Christ Himself is called by the same name in the inspired Scripture. For in one place the mental bride, that is, the Church, said about the Bridegroom descending from above and from heaven, I mean Christ: “I will ascend the date, I will hold its height” (Song 7:9). This tree always blooms, has a sweet taste, strong roots and a whitish core. Such is Christ in thought, through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. About manna and quails 1. God also works all sorts of miracles and ascends “from strength to strength,” as it is written (Ps. 83:8): He finds ways unskilled, everywhere bearing in mind His glory and in various ways showing that He alone is able to without difficulty accomplish those things that are beyond reason and that justly deserve our wonder, so that in everything He may be seen as God, not as any of the skilled or wicked inventors, but as by nature and truly God. For from what He gloriously accomplishes, everyone can understand, and without the slightest difficulty, His pure nature, which is characterized, as its own good, by omnipotence and invincibility in accomplishing what He pleases. In addition, He is also characterized by forgetfulness of malice. You can see what I said, and quite clearly, in what we have just proposed. For it is written that “on the fifteenth day of the second month after they left the land of Egypt. And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the children of Israel said to them: Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread! for you brought us out into this wilderness to starve this whole assembly. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and let the people go out and gather daily, as much as is needed for the day, so that I can test them, whether they will walk according to My law or not; and on the sixth day let them prepare what they bring, and it will be twice as much as they gather on the other days” (Ex. 16:1-5). The firstborn of Egypt, as we said before, died, and the Israelites were taken out of the country without even having time, so to speak, to prepare a grain supply. They brought out their dough before the leaven had leavened, putting it in their clothes. In general, having collected for the journey only what caught their eye, they went out with haste, and fear fell equally on both the pursuing Egyptians and the persecuted Jews. For it seemed to them that they too would soon join those previously lost if, without yielding to Divine commands, they did not let Israel leave their country; and the Israelites thought that if they hesitated and delayed their departure, their enemies would enter into battle with them for the sake of the dead and, without mercy, would endanger their very lives. Therefore, they went out, not caring at all about what was needed to set off on the journey, only grabbing what was at hand, and from what was in the house, taking, if necessary, only the most convenient for carrying it. Having consumed what they had taken and wondering where they could get what they needed for life in the desert, they lusted after Egyptian dishes, forgot that they had gotten rid of the greatest disasters and slavery of Egypt and seemed to grumble at the help given to them, were indignant at the fact that they were freed, and preferred the saturation of the unclean belly to the much-desired and much-desired freedom for all people. This greatly outraged their intercessor, that is, Moses. But God immediately promises to give them food in abundance and treats those who offend Him with great mercy. For the desire to have from Him what is necessary for life, of course, does not constitute any sin; What grieved Him most was His murmuring. So the Savior himself taught us to say in prayers: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). If we say this, we will by no means accuse the Lord; on the contrary, we will ask from Him what is necessary for life; The Jewish people, when they should have asked for food, are indignant at having been liberated and madly blame such a precious and coveted grace as having removed them from the most pleasant things, that is, bread and meat. Therefore, he grumbles and wickedly cries out against God. But God is not mindful of malice; He promises him an unexpected abundance of all this. And He sends down, with His indescribable power, dyes in the evening, and manna in the morning. So the divine David said: “he gave them the bread of heaven: the bread of angels is for man” (Ps. 77:24-25). By this test and such deeds, He convinced them that God could give bread and prepare a meal in the desert, just as our Lord Jesus Christ, working miracles in the same way, broke five loaves and fed many in the desert, and in addition, the remnants of twelve koshnitsa were collected (Matthew 14:13-20). The method of working miracles is completely inexplicable; and therefore only by faith must we accept what is above the mind, and may God hear from everyone who marvels at Him for this: “I know that You can do everything, and that Your purpose cannot be stopped” (Job 42:2). 2. But until now we were talking about the sensual. What could be the meaning of spiritual speculation, or what is the educational significance of the law, we must consider now, since we have decided to carefully seek the truth. So, through this we can also learn that the life under the law is undoubtedly lower than the gospel (life), is not free from accusations of carnality and is not alien to earthly desires; and the Divine and Gospel life is spiritual and immaculate and has incomparable beauty. We will receive proof of both and assurance of this by precisely examining the meaning of both from the inspired Scripture. For it is said: “In the evening the quails came and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay around the camp; the dew rose, and behold, on the surface of the desert there was something small, grainy, fine, like frost on the ground. And the children of Israel saw and said to one another, “What is this?” Because they didn’t know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat; This is what the Lord commanded: everyone gather as much of it as he can eat; Collect one omerah per person, according to the number of souls, according to how many are in each tent. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered together, some much, some little; and they measured it by an omer, and he who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no shortage: each one gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, Let no one leave this until the morning. But they did not listen to Moses, and some left it until the morning, and worms infested, and it stank. And Moses was angry with them” (Ex. 16:13–20). And a little later: “And [he] said to them: this is what the Lord said: tomorrow is rest, a holy Saturday of the Lord; what you need to bake, bake, and what you need to boil, boil today, and what remains, put it aside and save it until the morning. And they put it off until the morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it” (Ex. 16:23-24). So, he commanded everyone to collect only as much as he needed. But this did not at all prohibit collecting for those who were absent, if someone wanted and was moved to do so by the law of love. He absolutely forbids preserving it until the morning, and he commanded that it be done only before one Saturday, so that through this the law of non-doing would not be deprived of honor. On Saturday it was impossible to find manna at all, since God did not send it down, thereby, as it were, forcing them to free themselves from work on Saturday. But some paid little attention to the Divine words and kept it before the Sabbath and, as the Holy Scripture says, “and worms infested, and it stank” (Ex. 16:20). And Moses was upset; Since some also went out on Saturday to collect manna, God himself was indignant. For it is written like this: “But some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather - and they were not found. And the Lord said to Moses: How long will you deviate from keeping My commandments and My laws? Look, the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day: stay every one with you,... no one goes out from his place on the seventh day” (Ex. 16:27-29). What proper and most applicable meaning can we give to what has been said? What does it mean that the krastel (quails) came in the evening, and in the light and in the morning manna was given? I think this should be explored; and first of all, what do they mean allegorically and as if in a prototype of krastel, and what is manna? 3. That the life of the Jews is not free from carnal lusts, this is easily understood by everyone; and the search for such food as Egyptian meat, submission and, as it were, oppression of the mind by such base motives can clearly expose them. But this cannot be seen in our society, because we are sanctified in Christ and stand above the uncleanness of the flesh. The divine Paul will testify to this, who writes: “those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). What does “crucified” mean, if not that they gave themselves up to death, obviously mental, since they do not live according to the flesh and decided not to think about temporal things, but on the contrary, they put to death “your earthly members: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust” (Col. 3:5) and although they walk on earth, they are zealous for the life above? For the Holy Scripture remembers, crying: “Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). So, the mind of the Jews is weak and we are very easily overcome by the aspirations of the passions; because he still loves carnal things and is overcome by earthly things. This is what matters to us, as I said, krastel. And God gives to those who want (what they need), without leading them to lusts, but also without giving them the strength to fight passions; because the glory of life and complete sanctification are not reserved for those who are under the law, but rather for those who are in the spirit, that is, in Christ (live). Therefore, God promised through the prophet a New Testament, not according to the first covenant, as having no integrity, but another and spiritual one, which is able to “complete according to conscience” those who believe (Heb. 8:7-9, 9:9). Look how in the evening the Krastels flew to the Jewish host. For it is said: “In the evening the quails came” (Ex. 16:13). This circumstance indirectly indicates to us that the lover of earthly things is not in mental light, but, as it were, in night and darkness. And this is truly the case; because the mind of the Jews is not free from ignorance and blindness or mental darkness. Therefore, Christ cried out, saying: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). Thus, those who have not yet believed are in darkness and, as it were, in darkness; for they have not yet come to the light. Christ also said in another place about the Pharisees and the people under their leadership: “leave them: they are blind leaders of the blind” (Matthew 15:14). So, the mind of the Jews is blind. That is why they suffer from carnal passions and are dependent on earthly things. We will consider manna to be the image of the instructions and gifts of Christ, which are from above and from heaven and do not have earthly things in them, they are not involved in carnal abomination and truly constitute not only human, but also angelic food. For the Son revealed to us the Father in Himself, and through Him we were convinced of the truth of the teaching about the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity and were very correctly guided to every path of virtue. The food of the spirits is the right and unfalse knowledge of this. And the teaching of instruction through Christ can be done as in light and in days. Therefore, manna was given most anciently at the time when the day dawned and the light spread. For the day has shone upon us believers, as it is written (2 Pet. 1:19) and the “star of the day” has shone “in the hearts” of all (2 Pet. 1:19, 2 Cor. 4:6) and the Sun of Truth has risen, that is, Christ, the giver of mental manna. For what appears to be sensible in some form has become truth itself (in Christ). He Himself will convince of this, saying to the Jews: “Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and died; and the bread that comes down from heaven is such that whoever eats it will not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; But the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:49–51). Our Lord Jesus Christ educates us for endless life with instructions in piety and mysterious blessings. So, He Himself and through Himself is Divine and truly life-giving manna. And the one who eats this manna rises above corruption and avoids death, and not those who ate sensual manna; because the prototype was not saving, but only represented in itself an image of the truth. God commanded to collect manna, sending it down from the sky like rain, only as much as was needed for everyone, however, to collect it, if anyone wanted, for others living in the same dwelling. “Everyone,” it is said, “gather together with his household,” and do not leave, it is added, “until the morning from him” (Ex. 16, 16, 19). For we must be filled with Divine and Gospel teachings. Christ shares his grace with us, both small and great, and equally educates everyone for life, wants the weakest to be united with others, so that we strive for the brethren, lay down our labors for them and make them sharers of gifts from above. And this, I think, means what was said to the holy Apostles themselves - “freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8). And truly, as if collecting manna for themselves in abundance, they tried to share it with those living in the same tabernacle with them, that is, in the Church, the Divine disciples did this, admonishing, explaining, leading to everything praiseworthy and unselfishly offering everyone for communion the grace they had acquired from Christ. So blessed Paul writes in his Epistle to some: “I greatly desire to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift for your strengthening” (Rom. 1:11). If the saying: “gather you together with your household” (Exod. 16, 16) to be understood in another way, that is, not to gather everything indiscriminately and in a continuous crowd, but separately by generation or by tent, then you can understand this in the following way: we must saturate those of the same faith with us with the Divine word and seek mental manna for them, and not deal unreasonably with those who think differently, even with foreigners. This is what we do when we remove those who are different-minded and corrupt from the Church and share the heavenly meal in abundance with those at home in the faith. It is said not to leave anything “until the morning” (Ex. 16:19). By this the law again indicates that the use of images of a bygone time, when they were useful and necessary, in any case and in every possible way leads to condemnation and punishment: because what was saved until the morning “worms infested” (Ex. 16:20). This can be a clear sign of punishment and incorruption. For all who keep the canopy after the revelation of the truth will be subject to incorruption and punishment. Something like this happened, we say, to those to whom blessed Paul writes: “You, who justify yourselves by the law, are left without Christ, you have fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4). And again: “Are you so foolish that, having begun in the spirit, you are now ending in the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3). So, he forbids preserving until the morning, so that by morning you mean the time after the law, in which the coming of Christ appeared and the Divine light shone upon us. But having in mind to celebrate the Sabbath, the Israelites kept it until the morning, and this was commanded by God. So what does it mean that what was collected in advance for the Sabbath was preserved; and, moreover, it did not spoil and did not provoke Moses to anger against those who preserved it? Having come through faith to the sabbath imaginable in Christ, that is, to non-doing and cessation of sins, we do not reject, as something useless, the instruction in the law collected in advance and, as it were, put aside in reserve, leading us to Christ, since “the law is a teacher” (Gal. 3:24); on the contrary, possessing it together with the Gospel instructions, we are not far Let us deserve praise for this, and God is not angry with those who do this. So the Savior, teaching this, himself tells us that “every scribe who has been taught about the Kingdom of Heaven is like a master who brings out from his treasury new and old” (Matthew 13:52). So, the manna, collected in advance from the law, is not subject to accusation if it is kept for mental sabbath. For, being a Sabbathkeeper in Christ, we turn to the images prescribed by Moses in order to seek the truth in them. Gathering on Saturday is subject to curse and judgment; Moreover, God did not even send manna on this day; for being a Sabbathkeeper in Christ, we will no longer begin to collect what is contained in the types: we will not undergo fleshly circumcision, we will not slaughter oxen or sheep as a sacrifice; on the contrary, we will reject the crudeness of the types, having the truth itself, that is, Christ. 4. It is enough, as I think, and clearly stated by us about the above. since in the book known as Numbers we find one chapter containing other additions to these stories, I would necessarily think not to leave this unexamined, as it is silent in the book of Exodus. For in this way readers can acquire a more extensive understanding of the matter. So, it is written, “The strangers among them began to show whims; and the children of Israel sat with them and wept, and said, Who will feed us with meat? We remember the fish that we ate for free in Egypt, cucumbers and melons, and onions, and onions and garlic; and now our soul languishes; there is nothing but manna in our eyes” (Numbers 11:4-6). Then he adds to this: “Moses heard that the people were crying among their families, every one at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was greatly inflamed, and it was unfortunate for Moses” (Numbers 11:10). Look how frivolous and fickle Israel was and how incapable of benefiting others; on the contrary, he suffers from weakness and revolves only in what concerns him. For the mixed (common) people were troubled with the most unreasonable and vile lust; and those who would most naturally have reproached him for this and convinced him to think about something more decent, suffered even worse. And the divine Moses complained no little and openly told the God of all that he could not alone bear such a heavy and unbearable burden. As proof of this, he cited the great difficulty and inability to fulfill the desire to have meat in the desert, saying: “Where can I get meat from to give to all this people?” (Num. 11, 13). When he reached such cowardice that he even wanted to die, saying: “When You do this to me, it is better to kill me, if I have found mercy in Your sight, so that I do not see my misfortune” (Numbers 11:15): then God restrains him and commands him to choose his associates and partners in care from the entire host of men, numbering seventy. For “the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be their elders and officers, and take them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you; I will go down and talk to you there, and I will take from the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, so that they will bear the burden of the people with you, and not you alone will bear it” (Num. 11:16-17). When this was accomplished (because he immediately presented men who were different from all the others), then the God of all filled them with the Holy Spirit. After this, condescending to the lusts of those who wept, He sent them dyes. And they, gathering in crowds around the camp, very joyfully collected the dyes that were on the ground. They devoured them like animals, not caring about satiety or satisfying hunger. But when they collected and caught an immense number of birds, and the eating of meat lasted for a whole month, then, finally, a deadly disease attacked them and, as the prophet says, “therefore the underworld expanded and opened its mouth without measure” (Is. 5:14). Because "meat... , - it is said, - was still in their teeth and had not yet been eaten, when the wrath of the Lord kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. And they called the name of this place: Kibrot-Gattaava, for they buried a capricious people there” (Numbers 11:33-34). While they did not lack any of the good things, and while it would be quite enough for them to use the manna given from heaven, they lust after meat and onions, and also name cucumbers and melons, scarlet onions and garlic. That is why, having eaten all this, they died in a short time. Although God gives dyes, he does not approve of lust, but rather convinces with these miracles that nothing is impossible for Him. Therefore, soon after this he punishes those who are carried away by such shameful lusts. The unfortunate Jews suffered something similar during the coming of our Savior; because the first was the dawn of this last and what happened in ancient times was a prefiguration of what followed. They unreasonably preferred the manna that came down to us from above and from heaven, that is, Christ, who is capable of nourishing and promises endless life, to the truly worldly and completely tasteless earthly use, they necessarily insulted, moreover, not only the God of all, but also the divine Moses himself. For it is written: “The wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people... and it was sorrowful for Moses” (Num. 11:33, 10). The mind of saints always follows the will of God. And that the Jewish people always preferred temporal and carnal things to heavenly blessings, anyone can learn this from the Gospel parable. The slaves sent to invite them to the supper wanted to call them “to the wedding feast,” it is said, “but they neglected that and went, some to their field, and some to their trade” (Matthew 22:4-5). And the reason for the refusal was for one: “I bought land,” for the other: “I got married and therefore cannot come” (Luke 14, 18, 20). Further, that Moses himself cried out against the unbelief of the Jews, our Lord Jesus Christ will assure us of this, saying: “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: you have an accuser, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, because he wrote about Me” (John 5:45–46). And Moses considered it too difficult to be able to endure Israel any longer. Then God sanctified other men, numbering seventy, as we said above. For the law alone, the image of which Moses can justly be represented, is not able to guide us. That is why the other seventy are supplied, who had to fill what was missing in him, and appear as if in perfect number. This could mean the number seventy. Who are these seventy? These are, after Moses, appointed by Christ for leadership, whose firstfruits and fathers are the Divine disciples. It is also said that God withdrew from the Spirit that was on Moses and sent it to the elect, and this is not for the sake of anything other than so that we may believe that with the same Holy Spirit God sanctifies those who were saints before us and ourselves. For just as there is one Father, and likewise one Son, so there is equally one Holy Spirit in the prophets and in us. Being one, He naturally cannot be conceived through division in many, but remains undivided in many divisions of gifts and resides entirely in all. It should also be noted that the God of all commanded the gathering of the elect to the number of seventy. But this number was not completely collected; because two were missing, Modad and Eldad. And these that remained God filled with the Spirit: because they prophesied in the camp. And some of those around Moses were jealous and even said that they should be forbidden. He, seeing the mystery of Christ, says to them: “Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would send His Spirit upon them!” (Num. 11:29.) We can also understand through this that the law caught in the net and led to God, leading many children to the sacrament of Christ. However, he was not able to bring everyone: the rest were sanctified by Christ. For those who came from the Gentiles were called to the knowledge of the truth, not through Moses or through the law, but rather by the power of God the Father, who reveals to those who do not know His own image, that is, the Son: and He made them called and holy through the anointing of the Spirit. And those under the law are jealous of those who are in Christ, justified in faith and sanctified in the Spirit. Only Moses rejoiced, having foreknew the sacrament. The Jewish people, who are foolishly zealous for the saints in Christ, do not feel this way about what was characteristic of Moses. So, as if returning our word to its beginning, we will say the following: in the first chapter, the Jewish people were clearly shown as still carnal. The people who descended from those who lived in faith and in Christ, and sensual manna served for them as a shadow and image of the gifts of Christ, seem to be different and more sacred and truly better. In addition, we learn that if we observe the canopy even after the time appropriate for it, we will offend God and will be hated even by the saints themselves. For Moses was angry with those who kept the manna until the morning. In subsequent chapters, it can be noted that the Jews, who did not give honor to spiritual manna and turned away from what was sent from above and through Christ, who, on the contrary, inclined towards earthly things and were immoderately attached to coarse pleasures, significantly perished. For we should, in any case, consider what is given from God as the best and crown with faith the Savior and Redeemer of us all, I mean Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. About the three signs that happened through Moses 1. No one can see the Divine nature as it is. For it is completely invisible and is exalted in power above all mind and word: it alone is cognizable by itself only. And this can be learned from what Christ cries: “no one knows,” He says, “who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son, and to whom the Son wants to reveal” (Luke 10:22; Matt. 11:27). So, the Only Begotten showed us the considerable beauty of God and the Father, presenting Himself as a bright image. That is why he says: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). We see the Son both with the eyes of the heart and with the eyes of the flesh, when He, having reduced Himself to exhaustion (Phil. 2:7), condescended to our state, although in the image and equality with God and the Father He was God and born of Him by nature. And Baruch said, pointing to, I think, the Word itself: “This God is ours, it will not be imputed to Him. Find out every way of cunning, and give it to Jacob his servant, and to his beloved Israel from Him. Therefore, he appeared on earth and lived with men” (Bar. 3:36-38). The divine David clearly foretold to us: “The God of Gods, the Lord has spoken and is calling the earth, from the rising of the sun to the west. From Zion, which is the height of beauty, God appears, our God comes, and not in silence” (Ps. 49: 1-3). For He descended in the form of fire on Mount Sinai. But that it was an image and nothing else, Christ convinces of this. The people of Judah thought that they truly saw the ineffable nature when Moses acted as a mediator between them and God, stood with him at Horeb and gathered him to a meeting under Mount Sinai. After the noisy sound of the trumpets, ascending to the heights, frightened those listening, they thought to themselves that they had heard the voice of the Divine. But that they thought so childishly, God clearly convinced of this, saying: “a voice... You heard Him, but you did not see His image” (Deut. 4:12). I “and you do not have His word abiding in you, because you do not believe Him whom He sent” (John 5:38). So, we who believed saw the Father in the Son and therefore accepted His word. By Him we are redeemed; because it was not an intercessor, nor an angel, nor the law given through Moses who saved us, but the Lord himself, as it is written (Titus 3:5). And that what I say is true, we can also learn from what is written in the word of God. It is written like this: “And he said...,” it is said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God” (Exodus 3:6). See the weakness of the law: the God of all reveals Himself; but when He became visible, Moses turns away his face. And this can be for us it is a clear sign that even the sons themselves do not see the divine glory of the Son, unless He himself reveals Himself and, so to speak, leads to the knowledge of Himself. Therefore, He said through the mouth of Isaiah: “I was revealed to those who did not ask about Me; “Here am I!” I spoke to the people,” they did not know Me. “Every day I stretched out My hands to a disobedient people, who walked in an evil way, according to their own thoughts” (Is. 65: 1-2). So, those who turn away the eyes of their minds do not see the glory of Christ. And this, I think, means what was said about them through the mouth of the prophet: “for they turned their backs to Me, and not their faces” (Jer. 2:27). The divine Paul also writes: “the same veil remains untaken to this day when reading the Old Testament, because it is removed by Christ. Until now, when they read Moses, a veil lies over their hearts” (2 Cor. 3:14-15). We who have believed are not afraid to look directly into the face of the Lord, but as again the same divine Paul said: “We all with open face ... look at the glory of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). So, “turn away,” it is said, “Moses’ face” (Ex. 3:6). Then, when God said that he, along with the elders of the sons of Israel, should go to the frenzied Pharaoh and explain to the latter that God was calling the Israelis to make sacrifices to Him in the wilderness, and added to this that he would have to take booty from the Egyptians, and let the woman take “every woman begs from her neighbor and from who dwells in her house, things of silver and things of gold, and clothing" (Exod. 3, 22): then “answered,” it is said, “Moses said: and if they do not believe me and do not listen to my voice and say: The Lord has not appeared to you?... And the Lord said to him: What is this in your hand? He answered: a rod. The Lord said: Throw it on the ground. He threw it on the ground, and the rod turned into a serpent, and Moses fled from it. tail. He stretched out his hand and took it;... and it became a rod in his hand. This is so that they would believe... that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob" (Ex. 4, 1-5). the Egyptians and by force to come out of Egypt. Therefore, he commanded both to work miracles and to perform deeds that exceed human nature, and God turns the rod into a serpent, so that through this they would believe that Moses was not a traitor, but the true bearer of commands received from above and from God. For the true sign, which we all believe, is the descent of the Word to the earth in a form similar to ours, which is signified by the falling of the rod to the ground. And how and in what way, I will again try to say as much as I can. 2. The inspired Scripture likens the Word, born of God, to a rod, for the reason that everything is confirmed by Him: “By the Word of the Lord,” it is said, “the heavens were established” (Ps. 33:6). And: “The Lord confirms the righteous” (Ps. 36:17). And we are brought into subjection to the Father through the Son: He himself, the Truth, points to this, saying: “And I will lead them under my rod” (Ezek. 20:37). In another sense, the rod is also a sign of the kingdom: the God of all and the Father reigns through the Son. It can mean the rod of Aaron, vegetated in the Holy of Holies. It also means “the rod from the root of Jesse” ( Isa. 11:1) and the rod, which comforts us all spiritually and, in addition to affirming, supports the right of the believers according to what is sung in the psalms in relation to the God of all and the Father: “Thy rod and club, that comforteth me” (Ps. 23:4). the unfortunate ones spent their lives in the world as godless: we were in error, serving the creature and being subject to the violence of unclean spirits. When He, let us speak in more carnal language for the sake of speculation, as if leaving the heights of His glory and, so to speak, the Hand of the Father, descended from heaven to earth, then He became like us and conformed to those living on earth, who are filled with wickedness. For the Son called them evil, saying: “If you therefore, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:11). We even claim that He turned into a serpent, as it were, for the reason that He became like us and appeared in the same form as us. Man is wicked when compared with the goodness of God. So, the rod passed into the serpent because the Only Begotten became man “and was counted with the wicked” (Isa. 53:12) and together with us was called the evil one, although by nature he is good, and even moreover, he is self-good. But that we accepted the Only Begotten who became like us, but the Jews did not love (they seemed to have fled from Him), this can be clear from the Holy Scriptures. For “Moses fled from him,” it is said (Ex. 4:3). Thinking that He was evil, they were afraid to believe in Him, moreover, they even killed Him and crucified Him along with evil people. However, that in time they will be caught from Christ and will know that He is by no means evil, but on the contrary, is the affirmation and spiritual strength of the believers, we can learn about this from what happened with Moses. God returns Moses running away. When he grabbed the serpent, the latter again became a rod in his hand. Thus, to those who do not know Him (Christ), He appears to be evil because of His likeness to us; and if anyone takes hold of Him by faith, he finds Him as a rod and a strength. The Divine sign over the rod is so remarkable and is capable of convincing the Israelites, or everyone living on earth, that God is looking out for them. since for those who were very sick with disobedience and had lost hope of being able to get rid of the grave evil that threatened them, as many miracles as possible were needed, it was difficult for them to be called to obedience. 3. Again God said to the holy Moses: “Put your hand in your bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom, took it out,... and behold, his hand was as white as snow with leprosy. [Also] he said...: Put your hand in your bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom; and he took it out of his bosom, and behold, it again became the same as his body” (Ex. 4:6-7). Most of all, it becomes God to be able to deliver from leprosy. Sufferings that have reached such cruelty that they are not inferior to the very experiments of the medical art, need a different kind of help, the help of one power from above, which nothing can resist, but everything is accessible and easily executable. And leprosy is one of the incurable diseases. But what is hopeless in people’s opinion and impossible with them is possible with Him. And that in relation to God of all kinds, nothing at all can be imagined that He could not do, He showed this in healing the leprous hand of Moses, so that those who were called from here, that is, the Israelites, would know that although they suffered inevitable evil, being under the yoke of the evil Egyptians and, as it were, suffering from the most serious illness, slavery among them, they have a very skillful doctor who knows how and can easily drive away the most hopeless of them. suffering, and do it easily and quickly. For as soon as Moses put his hand into his bosom (in his bosom), he was freed from the disease. I don’t think this case really indicates anything else: because many of the Israelites, living for a long time in Egypt, moved away from the moderation handed down to them from above and from their fathers, becoming accustomed, on the contrary, to local morals and falling deeper and deeper, and, according to the word of the prophet, “and served the creature instead of the Creator” (Rom. 1:25; cf.: Ps. 105:20 ). They fell into every kind of uncleanness and finally had a mind as if dead and lifeless. For leprosy is a sign of uncleanness and deadness. But through this miracle they were secretly led to the fact that if God again calls them and establishes them in their minds, then they will recognize their uncleanness as easily removable and will very easily reject the filth that has infected them from mental deadness. And this is exactly what we said. And that the sacrament of Christ was written in hay also in the defeat of leprosy and the secondary cleansing of the hand of Moses, I will now try to say about this. That “all things came into being” through the Son, “without Him nothing began to be,” the divine Evangelist John very clearly testifies to us (John 1:3). since the Father, whatever he does, does through Him, therefore the inspired Scripture calls the Son the hand, arm and right hand of the Father. Thus, for example, the divine Isaiah says: “Who believed what was heard from us, and to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed?” (Isa. 53:1). For the unfortunate Jews remained hard-hearted and unbridled, and very ill from disobedience. And “The very heavens were established by the Word of the Lord,” says David (Ps. 33:6). Through the mouth of the prophets, God and the Father affirmed, saying: “my hand... establish the heavens” (Is. 48:13). He also called out to this in other places: “I am with you; do not be troubled, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, and help you, and uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness” (Is. 41:10). Thus, the inspired Scripture usually calls the Son by hand. Now look how the hand of Moses is first hidden in his bosom, then worn out and seen as leprous, then again put into his bosom and immediately appears freed from the disease. Contemplating in our minds the mystery and image of the incarnation and trying to discern what it consists of and how it was accomplished, we will find the following accomplished. The Son was in the bosom of God the Father, and through Him the Father created all things; because He is a high muscle, an all-powerful hand and a wonderful right hand. When He somehow left His place, becoming a man, and took upon Himself our infirmities, according to the word of the prophet (Isa. 53:4), He was subjected to suspicion and impurity. For human nature is unclean before God, if what the prophet Isaiah says is true: “We have all become like the unclean, and all our righteousness” (Is. 64:6). So, having descended to human nature, the All-Pure One and living in the inviolable light was suspected of uncleanness. And the unfortunate Jews were truly so mistaken that they called Him a wine drinker (Matthew 11:19) and a Samaritan (John 8:48) and born of fornication (John 8:41), and also a sinner, because they said to the healed man who was blind from birth: “Give glory to God; we know that that man is a sinner” (John 9:24). But they, I think, would never have reached such madness as to say such things and open their unbridled lips against Him, if they had known that He was God by nature. When He, who was suspected of uncleanness as a man, having completed the wise dispensation of our salvation, ascended to the Father and returned to His bosom: then, and only then, did He eliminate the suspicion that He was equally with us in deadness and uncleanness. He is glorified as God, glorified by everyone as the Lord, as the Holy of Holies, as he who enlightens creation and the spirits of men and those living on earth, Himself giving strength to overcome the one who can defile everything. And that the Son took on humanity according to the economy for our sake, that He was under the law and was imputed with the lawless, but then again ascended into the honor and glory inherent in Him from the beginning, He himself will convince of this, saying to the Heavenly Father: “Glorify Me, Father, with You, with the glory that I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5). Do you see that He is freed from what has ascended temporarily and that it was not against His will that He completed the dispensation with the flesh, but at the same time, as if in a hurry to return to the glory of the Divinity and all-surpassing dignity? Therefore, blessed Paul says: “even if we knew Christ in the flesh, now we know it no more” (2 Cor. 5:16), because He rose from the dead and ascended to the Father in the flesh. But “if...,” it is said, “we do not know according to the flesh,” that is, as being subject to carnal impulses, impulses, I say, natural and innocent. For before the Honest Cross He was hungry, as is said of Him (Matthew 4:2), and weary from the journey (John 4:6) and grieved (Matthew 26:38), and finally endured death itself for our sake. tree. But now we no longer know Him in such states. Having once died, He “dies no more” (Rom. 6:9). For Christ is incorruptible: He is life by nature and the giver of life, since He came from the life of the Father. 4. After what happened unexpectedly with the leprous hand, God confirmed them with a third sign. For he said again: “If they do not believe these two signs and do not listen to your voice, then take water from the river and pour it onto dry land; and the water taken from the river will become blood on the dry land” (Ex. 4:9). Look again how the unbelief of the Jews is foreshadowed. They always wait and are slow to understand and are not easily receptive to the truth. They did not believe the incarnation and miracles performed during Christ's earthly life. Late and with difficulty they believed only the last sign, and even then not all of them, but only “according to the election of grace, a remnant was preserved,” as Blessed Paul writes (Rom. 11:5). What is this last sign? – Death on the tree and the Resurrection of Christ associated with death and soon following it. And that as a sign the Savior’s death and the greatest and most wonderful mystery of the resurrection from the dead were given to the children of Israel, this can be clear from the very words of the Savior. For the Pharisees once approached, after He had performed countless signs, and with hidden mockery they said: “Teacher! We would like to see a sign from You. But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign; and no sign will be given to him except the sign of the prophet Jonah; for just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:38–40). But it is not difficult to see that the death of Emmanuel gained many not only from the Jews, but also from the pagans. For He said again, on one occasion: “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me” (John 12:32); in another case: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; and if he dies, he will bear much fruit” (John 12:24). Do you see how by a clear example He showed us the fruit of death? So, these words of the Savior were the last sign for us, which was given faith not only by the Israelis, but also by the representatives themselves, as I said, of another society, I mean a society of pagans. How was this signified? “Then take...,” it says, “water from the river and pour it onto dry land; and the water taken from the river will become blood on the dry land” (Ex. 4:9). Water is the image or sign of life; it is truly necessary for this and is very common among those living on earth. So, as if from some river, from the Father who gives life to all, came the Son, who himself is truly life: because as light comes from light, so life comes from life. And that He does not exist outside, but is from God and the Father Himself by nature, this was taught by Moses, but no less by us ourselves: for “take ...,” it is said, “water from the river” (Ex. 4:9). Then it was ordered to be poured onto the ground. And this is, allegorically, the mystery of the incarnation; because the Only Begotten, being life, and born, as it were, through an outpouring from the life of God the Father, was in some way mixed with humanity that came from the earth, as undoubtedly water is with the earth. For in Christ “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Divinity bodily” (Col. 2:9), even as it were part of human nature. And who could comprehend this with reason or express it in words? But in addition, the water turned into blood: because life by nature, that is, the Word that came from God the Father, through a divinely determined union, with the flesh, I say, or with all of humanity and our nature, seemed to have undergone death itself. We understand that Christ died for us, not suffering this in His own nature (because He Himself would not have died in any way, being life), but as if having assimilated to Himself the death of His own flesh. Note also that if Moses had not poured water on the ground, it would not have turned into blood, which is a clear sign of death. For the Word contemplated spiritually outside the flesh is life and life-giving. When It began to dwell in the flesh, then, and precisely then, they began to say about It, according to human reasoning, that It died. Finally, this is an extraordinary and obvious sign, through which the remnant of Israel is caught in the net of faith, and the pagan people are called to it along with it. For who will not move to faith, seeing that the anciently terrible and painful death for those living on earth has weakened, corruption has been abolished and human nature has been raised to the hope of endless life? Just as we died together with Adam, so together with Christ we were raised from the dead. The divine Paul will testify to us about this, who writes: “As in Adam we all die, so in Christ we will all come to life” (1 Cor. 15:22); because He redeemed us with His Blood and gave His life as a substitute for the lives of all. 5. But although so many extraordinary and wondrous miraculous deeds were accomplished, Moses was still perplexed, he was overcome with fear and did not dare to accept the embassy. When God commanded him to go to Pharaoh and directly tell him to release Israel, who had to offer Him a sacrifice in the wilderness, Moses was not a little afraid of this matter and added, openly saying that he, as you know, is not eloquent and has an incorrect tongue. “I am not a man of speech,” he said, “and I was like that both yesterday and the day before, and when You began to speak to Your servant: I speak hard and am tongue-tied” (Ex. 4:10). And that he is not capable of redeeming those under the yoke of slavery, he also clearly asserted and said: “Lord! send another whom you can send” (Ex. 4:13). But even when God promised to give him a tongue and open his mouth and said that He himself could be the giver of wisdom and words to the speaker, Moses refused more and more persistently, saying that he should put another, more capable one in his place. By doing this he insulted God. “Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said, “Have you not a brother Aaron, the Levite? I know that he can speak” (Ex. 4:14). And to this he adds, “he will be your mouth, and you will be to him instead of God” (Ex. 4:16). Do you see the tongue-tied words already written in ancient times, as if in the divine Moses? For the law was not capable of proclaiming revelations and was not so skilled in speech or good-natured as to convey the exact understanding of the one who serves for the benefit, as undoubtedly Christ, Who is truly a Levite and whose image Aaron was. The law given through Moses barely leads to the beginnings of the words of God and is the initial teaching for infants, a teacher of the foolish, through time and shadow barely providing us with only a very unclear knowledge of what we should do. But our truly most capable and great priest, who is able to carry out the mission, that is, Christ, has revealed the truth already free from shadows, because he is not sluggish or slow in tongue and not short-spoken, like Moses, but on the contrary, very good-natured, and especially because he is the Word of the wisdom of God and the Father. Look how the law would not be capable of removing from slavery those who are subordinate to the mental Pharaoh, that is, Satan, and the divine Moses would not have brought any benefit on earth, although he acquired the greatest glory in virtues, if Christ had not been with him and helped him. And that this is truly and truly said by us, you can learn from the joining of Aaron to Moses. And Moses spoke, and Aaron explained his speech: because if the law were not understood spiritually, and what is hidden in it is revealed to us by Christ, then what He means would remain dark and unclear to the listeners. So the Jews, not having one who would explain to them the Scriptures of Moses, that is, Christ, remained in ignorance of them. That is why the divine Paul said: “The same veil remains untaken to this day when reading the Old Testament, because it is removed by Christ. To this day, when they read Moses, a veil lies over their heart; but when they turn to the Lord, then this veil is removed. The Lord is Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:14-17). So, the God of all things rightly spoke to the sacred keeper Moses about Aaron, “and he will speak in your stead to the people; so he will be your mouth, and you will be to him instead of God” (Ex. 4, 14, 16). And we do not say that Moses was more worthy of attention and closer to God than Immanuel: because this is the Son and came from God the Father by nature, and he, along with us, is among the servants, although he can be called a closer and true servant. It seems that for him he was even “instead of God”: because Christ, as a man, was under the law and kept the commandments of Moses. He was circumcised on the eighth day after birth and made a didrachm contribution, along with others, although he was free by nature, like a Son. He also ate the Passover, although again He Himself was the true Lamb who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). In this sense, it is said that Moses was for him “instead of God” (Ex. 4:16). And that Israel had not to believe the Divine signs themselves performed through Christ, this could be predicted by the example of Moses, who did not believe the miracles described. Therefore, we transfer the image of Moses to the Israelites, since they were called through him and were procreated by the laws given through him. So, that the law was not sufficient for redemption, but that for this we need the Honest Blood of Christ (because only through Him alone was death defeated), this can be very clear from what follows. 6. The divine Moses rose from the land of Midian, taking with him his wife and children, and finally went to Egypt, as if fulfilling what was commanded from God. When he stopped near the land of Egypt, then the God of all things said to him: “When you go and return to Egypt, see that all the miracles that I have entrusted to you, do before the face of Pharaoh” (Ex. 4:21). And a little later: “And say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord...: Israel is My son, My firstborn; I say to you: let My son go, so that he may serve Me; and if you do not let him go, behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn. On the way, at an overnight stop, it happened that the Lord met him and wanted to kill him. Then Zipporah, taking a stone knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and, throwing it at his feet, said: You are the bridegroom of my blood. And the Lord departed from him. Then she said: the bridegroom of blood is according to circumcision” (Ex. 4:22-26). An angel in human form attacked him and tried to kill him and was barely appeased by the fact that Zipporah circumcised her son, I mean Gersham, who was both the firstborn and whose name is interpreted as “stranger.” Whom the destroyer attempted to kill, the Holy Scriptures did not clearly indicate this; but perhaps Moses, for the uncircumcision of his son; and with difficulty the Angel was removed. This image clearly shows that death is defeated in the Blood of Christ. The holy host of the Fathers was also saved, even more than that, the entire eldest and formerly His family; because He died for all and the death of all was resolved in Him. For it is not in the blood of the prophets, but in the blood of the youngest Christ and with Him that we escape the destroyer. “For to this end Christ died, and rose again, and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Rom. 14:9). But if you say that the destroyer attacked Gersham, and not the blessed Moses, then you can see the same thing. For it was not through circumcision according to the law, that is, according to the flesh and the senses, that death was driven away, but through circumcision in Christ by the Spirit, which was performed on the firstborn and new people, a stranger on earth, assigned to the highest and heavenly city, by the mental Zipporah, that is, the Church, consisting of Midianites and pagans. She cut it with her stone. This stone can also be an image of the Spirit, due to its strength and indestructibility, and also because it is from a rock. For the Spirit is of Christ; “the stone” is “Christ,” as the wise Paul writes (1 Cor. 10:4). You should also know that even after Moses, the ancient leader Joshua (Joshua) circumcised the sons of Israel with stone knives (Joshua 5:2-3), through such circumcision, divinatoryly pointing us to circumcision not made by hands, by which death is conquered, and which is the spiritual circumcision of malice and the putting aside of depravity and pleasures. About carnal circumcision, the divine Paul writes to us: “circumcision” is insignificant (Gal. 5:6, 6:15). The wise and sacred word calls to us: “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision of Christ” (Col. 2:11), through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: