Chapter 29

1Therefore keep the feast days, beloved brothers and sisters. The first feast is the day of Christ’s birth, on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month according to the Hebrew reckoning, but according to the Egyptian reckoning, on the twenty-ninth day of the month Tahsas, which is the fourth month. After this, celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, on which the Lord manifested the glory of his divinity in his baptism by John in the River Jordan. Keep it in the tenth month, on the sixth day according to the Hebrew reckoning, and according to the Egyptian reckoning, on the eleventh day of the month Tobi, which is Ter, that is, in the fifth month. After this, observe in purity the forty days of the Holy Fast, which teaches us quietness and patience, fasting and prayer, which bring us near to Christ. This Holy Fast shall end on the day of the Passover, on which salvation came.

2Let the beginning of your Paschal fast be on the second day of the week before the Passover. For on the day after the feast of Hosanna, on the second day of the week, the wicked Jews, transgressors against the faith and the law, gathered together and took counsel against the Lord in the first month […], which is Miyazya. On the third day of the week they took further counsel, and on the fourth day of the week they finally decided to hand him over to death on the cross. Judas learned of their counsel, and because he was a thief, Satan immediately caused him to fall through love of money; for he kept the purse and stole the money of the poor. Although he did all this, the Lord did not cast him away, for he knew the evil in his heart.

3While we were eating with him, our Lord wished to warn him, and he enabled us to understand that Judas would betray him. Therefore he said, “Truly, truly, I tell you that one of you will betray me.” Each of us spoke among ourselves, saying, “Lord, is it I?” And I arose, being one of the Twelve, for he loved me more than all the disciples. I asked him, “Lord, who is it who will betray you?” Our Lord did not tell us his name, but showed us by two signs who it was. First, he said, “The one who dips his hand with me in the dish is the one who will betray me.” Second, he said, “The one to whom I shall give the bread is the one who will betray me.” For Judas said to him, “Is it I, Lord?” But our Lord did not say to him, “Yes, it is you.” Instead, he said, “You have said it.” He did not wish to name him openly, but said to him, “It would have been good for the man by whose hands the Son of Man will be handed over if he had not been born.” When Judas heard this, he went to the chief priests and said to them, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They agreed with him to give him thirty pieces of silver.

4It was the fifth day of the week when our Lord ate the Passover with us. Judas took the bread, dipped his hand in the dish, and went out at night. Our Lord said to us, “The hour has come. Behold, each of you will be scattered, and you will leave me alone.” Every one of us said, “We will not leave you.” And I, Peter, said to him, “Though they all leave you, I will not leave you, but will die with you.” He said to me, “Truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will deny three times that you know me.” Behold, while Judas was with us, he revealed to us this holy mystery, which is his holy body and his precious blood.

5Then our Lord went out to the Mount of Olives, and we also went with him, praying and singing praises, as we were accustomed to do. He withdrew a little way from us and prayed to the Father, saying, “O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, let your will, and not my will, be done.” He did this three times. Our eyes were heavy with sleep because of sorrow. Our Lord came to us and said, “The time has come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” Then Judas came, with many ungodly men accompanying him. He had given them a sign by which he would betray Jesus—a kiss, a deceitful sign filled with wickedness. When they recognized the sign Judas had given them, they seized Jesus. After binding him, they led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, to a place where there were no good men or holy priests, but rather an evil people and unholy priests who transgressed the law.

6They did not cease to blaspheme him and revile him, to beat him, spit in his face, mock him, and strike him with their fists. They sought false witnesses against him who said, “He speaks blasphemy against Moses, intends to destroy the Temple, will cause the sacrifices to cease, is an enemy of the Romans, rebels against the kings, and makes himself a king.” All this was done to him by these “many dogs and fat bulls,” in whom there was no mercy. At night they brought him out and led him before Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas. They did much evil to him and handed him over to Pilate, the Roman governor. It was then the sixth day of the week. They accused him at great length and with many words that it would be improper to repeat.

7When Pilate, the Roman governor, heard them, he did not believe them, but said, “I have found in this man no fault for which he should die.” Then they brought two witnesses against him who uttered and spoke lies against Christ. Pilate knew that their testimony did not agree. They then changed their minds and devised a plan to frighten Pilate. They said, “This man makes himself a king and forbids us to serve the king.” They lied and gave a wicked judgment. They cried out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” so that in him the word of the prophet might be fulfilled: “False witnesses have risen against me, and they have spoken against me of things I do not know. They have repaid me evil for good.” Again it says, “Many dogs have surrounded me, and the assembly of the wicked has seized me.”

8When Pilate was unable to save Jesus because he feared the Jews, he decided to do the will of the people. For Pilate had already testified, “I have found in him no fault for which he should die.” But the wicked Jews crucified him on the cross and pierced him, although the Romans have a law that no one is to be put to death unless he has been convicted in a trial before the governor. The soldiers of the guard took the Lord of Glory. At the third hour they raised him upon the tree, and at the sixth hour they crucified him. They gave him vinegar and myrrh to drink, mixed with gall. They took his garments and divided them among themselves. They crucified two criminals with him, one at his right hand and one at his left, so that what is written might be fulfilled: “They put gall into my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Again it says, “They cast lots for my clothing.” And elsewhere it says, “He was counted with the transgressors.”

9Then darkness came for three hours, from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. Afterward the darkness departed and light appeared, just as it is written: “It was neither day nor night, and in the evening light appeared.” At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elohe, elohe, lama sabaqtani,” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Then he cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they do what they do not know.” Again he said, “Father, into your hand I commend my soul.” Then he bowed his head, and his spirit departed. They took him down from the cross and buried him in a new tomb, and it was evening. Late on the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, he rose from the dead, fulfilling everything he had told us before he suffered: that the Son of Man would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

10After he rose from the dead, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, to Mary the mother of James, and to the son of Cleopas on the road. After this he appeared to us, his disciples, while we were hidden for fear of the Jews. For this is written in the Gospel. He also commanded us to keep the holy fast of the Passover for six days because of the transgression of the ungodly and the wickedness of the Jews, who transgressed the law. He also commanded us to fast on the fourth and sixth days of the week: on the fourth because on that day the Jews completed their evil design against him, and on the sixth because of the sufferings of the Savior. We ought not to fast on the Sabbath except for the single Sabbath of the Passion. Let us honor the other Sabbaths because our Lord rested from all his work on the Sabbath day.

11Our Lord came, but they did not believe in him or receive his teaching, and therefore they have missed their salvation. But you are blessed and are a holy people, for you are not like the people of old. You have been saved from ungodliness and idolatry. You are God’s people, and the gates of life have been opened to you, although formerly you were hated and despised. But now, as his chosen and beloved, you are a people holy to God, worthy to proclaim the wonderful works of our Savior. For it is said, “Those who did not seek me have found me, and I was revealed to those who did not think of me.”

12And he said to the people who did not know his name, “Behold, I have sought you, though you did not seek me. But you have believed in me, listened to my Church, and been saved from error, even from false gods. You have followed the one God, the Father Almighty, and his Son Jesus Christ. You are counted among those who believed in me—ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. You were not like Israel, which did not believe in me.” Concerning them it is said, “All day long I stretch out my hands to a disobedient people, who neither hear nor obey, but walk in an evil way that is not good; for they are a people who follow sin and continually provoke me to anger.”

13Behold, then, you have seen that they transgressed against the Lord and did not believe in him. Therefore it is said, “These provoked the Holy Spirit to anger.” Their hearts were blinded, and their punishment was increased because of the wickedness of their imagination. For they said, “We believe in Christ,” but they did not believe that he was the Lord God, begotten of the Father before the Creation, the only-begotten Son and the Word of the Father. Because they lacked faith, they did not know him or understand the prophecies of the prophets that had been written concerning him: that Christ would be born of a virgin. Yet they read and heard the words, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel. For to us a child was born; to us a son was given. The government was upon his shoulder, and his name is called Great in Counsel and the Angel of Peace. For I will bring peace to the rulers. Life is his, and great is his beginning, and of his peace there is no end.” Because their wicked deeds were without end, they did not believe.

14Therefore it is said, “Lord, who has believed our word, and to whom has your arm been revealed?” Again it is said, “Hearing you shall hear and shall not understand; seeing you shall see and shall not know, for the heart of this people is darkened.” Therefore wisdom was hidden from them, because when they saw, they did not know, and when they heard, they did not understand.

15But you are Gentiles, and the kingdom has been given to you. Formerly you did not know God, but now you know him through right faith and the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Savior, who gives life to all who hope in him. Behold, you have abandoned the worship of lifeless idols, despised unclean sacrifices, and turned away from the rulers of darkness. Therefore you have entered the true light through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him you have known the one true God, the Father, and have become heirs of his kingdom, for you have been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection. You must therefore be like newborn infants who have no evil in their hearts. Put sin away from you, for he has redeemed you with his precious blood so that you may worship the living God.

16In those days the Lord spoke concerning Israel, with regard to those who did not believe: “The kingdom of heaven shall be taken from them and given to a nation that practices righteousness.” But be zealous to produce the fruit of sound wisdom, for he sent you long ago to his vineyard. They did not listen to you, but hardened their hearts, rose against the keepers of the Lord’s vineyard, and seized them. One they killed, one they stoned, one they killed with the sword, one they sawed apart, and one they killed in the Temple. They also killed the Heir, rejected him, and stoned him [with the stone that the builders rejected]. Concerning you it is said, “A people whom I did not know has served me, and at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me.”