Peri Pascha (English title On the Pascha) is a 2nd-century

homily A homily (from Greek ὁμιλία, ''homilía'') is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture, giving the "public explanation of a sacred doctrine" or text. The works of Origen and John Chrysostom (known as Paschal Homily) are considered ex ...

Melito of Sardis Melito of Sardis ( el, Μελίτων Σάρδεων ''Melítōn Sárdeōn''; died ) was the bishop of Sardis near Smyrna in western Anatolia, and a great authority in early Christianity. Melito held a foremost place in terms of bishops in Asia ...

written between A.D.160 and 170 in

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. It was discovered last century and first published in 1940. It describes Christian doctrine on the Paschal mystery in the style of Second Sophistic period. It was originally conjectured to have probably been recited with the kind of cantillation customary in

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual pra ...

reading. Its first editor, Campbell Bonner, entitled it mistakenly ''On the Passion''. It was corrected to ''On the Pascha'', thanks to the title found in the '' Papyrus Bodmer XIII,'' one of the

Bodmer Papyri The Bodmer Papyri are a group of twenty-two papyri discovered in Egypt in 1952. They are named after Martin Bodmer, who purchased them. The papyri contain segments from the Old and New Testaments, early Christian literature, Homer, and Menander. ...

Text and style

One of the outstanding features of the ''Peri Pascha'' is its extensive use of classical rhetorical devices such as homoioteleuton, polysyndeton, isocola,

alliteration Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...

, chiastic antithesis and the deployment of

rhetorical question A rhetorical question is one for which the questioner does not expect a direct answer: in many cases it may be intended to start a discourse, or as a means of displaying or emphasize the speaker's or author's opinion on a topic. A common example ...

s. The extensive use of such devices argues against the hypothesis, advanced by some scholars, that it was originally written in Syriac. Henry M. Knapp
'Melito's Use of Scripture in "Peri Pascha": Second-Century Typology,'
in ''Vigiliae Christianae,'' Vol. 54, No. 4 (2000), pp. 343-374,pp.343-344. In terms of literary genre, the original editor, the Michigan University papyrologist Campbell Bonner advanced the view, somewhat anachronistic, that it exhibited features of a

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Holy ...

sermon. A general consensus formed that it was therefore to be classified as a type of homily. More recent commentaries entertain the idea, on the basis of the extensive use of rhetoric, that it is an example of declamation. Frank L. Cross proposed the idea that it was best read as a Christian Passover

haggadah The Haggadah ( he, הַגָּדָה, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to each J ...

Meditation on the Paschal mystery

Accepting the text as representing a homily, some have argued that it was initially pronounced during

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samue ...

festival night celebrated, according to the custom of

Quartodecimans Quartodecimanism (from the Vulgate Latin ''quarta decima'' in Leviticus 23:5, meaning fourteenth) is the practice of celebrating Easter on the 14th of Nisan being on whatever day of the week, practicing Easter around the same time as the Passove ...

, together with Jewish

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...

on the 14th of Nissan. As such a sermon its purpose would have been to reveal the meaning of Christ's Paschal mystery. Whatever its function it is the very first known use of the term ''Paschal mystery'' (literally ''Mystery of the Pascha''). The text here appears to be inspired by the Jewish

Haggadah of Pesach The Haggadah ( he, הַגָּדָה, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to each J ...

, especially the following antitheses: Eusebius writes about Melito in his Historia Ecclesiastica that he celebrates Passover on the fourteenth of Nisan, rather than the Sunday following, hence he was a Quartodeciman. Sardis Synagogue courtyard

Charges against the Jews

In this homily, Melito formulated the charge of deicide, which has been taken to mean the author accused

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

of responsibility for the

crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and consider ...

. He proclaimed that

ὁ θεὸς πέφονευται. ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἀνῄρηται ὑπὸ δεξιᾶς Ἰσραηλίτιδος.
Lynn Cohick Lynn H. Cohick is an American New Testament scholar and author. Since January 2021 she has been Provost, Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary. Education Cohick holds a BA from Messiah College in Religious Studies. Sh ...
br>'Melito of Sardis's "PERI PASCHA" and Its "Israel",'
The Harvard Theological Review The ''Harvard Theological Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1908 and published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity School. It covers a wide spectrum of fields in theological and rel ...
, Vol. 91, No. 4 (Oct., 1998), pp. 351-372, p.351.

The significance of ''Israel'' here is much debated. It can be construed variously to refer to either (a) the Biblical Jews, (b) contemporary Jews, (c) inclusive of both (a) and (b), or (d) as a 'foil for Christian beliefs' involving a caricature of Judaism. Which of these reading proves more persuasive depends on several factors, such as the identification of the author as the Melito of Sardis, where archaeological excavations have brought to light remains of a vibrant Jewish community for this period. In such a context, it may reflect Christian fears of confident proselytizing by Jews, or a deep sense of their insecurity in the midst of a powerful Jewish majority, or again a reaction against outbursts of violence against Christians. These interpretations rest of somewhat frail assumptions, about the extent, for example, of attempts by Jews to press for conversion, and occasional Jewish persecutions were both sporadic and highly localized, as often as not instances of infra-communal bickering. Some believe his preaching later inspired

pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...

s against the Jews. This has been challenged by scholars as historically tenuous. It is argued that this is a modern misreading of the text, and that, since the author espoused Quartodeciman beliefs, it is hard to imagine why he should be an advocate of any form of antisemitism. Todd Russell Hanneken, for example, has written: "In conclusion, we find Melito to be closer to the Prophets and the Sages than modern anti-Judaism. Melito identifies himself within the same tradition as those he criticizes, and he calls them to repentance with compassion." He preaches the victory over death achieved by Jesus ''having been himself led as a lamb''. He ''clothed death with shame'' because he ''arose from the dead, and raised up mortals from the grave below'' (n. 67-68, cf. 100). In the context of Jesus' death and resurrection, Melito preaches forgiveness. Christ speaks of himself as of the one who is ''forgiveness'' itself: The text is styled on the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

. Typical for Johannine

eschatology Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...

is to assert that the salvation is already realized. The formula ''I am'' (Gr. ''Ego eimi'') is borrowed from that Gospel e.g.: Jn 8:12; 11:25; 14:26.Cantalamessa, R. (1993), ''Easter in the Early Church'', p. 45 endnote "e".

References

Bibliography

* Bonner, Campbell, ''The Homily on the Passion by Melito, Bishop of Sardis'', in: "Mélanges Franz Cumont = Annuaire de l'Institut de philologie et d'histoire orientales et slaves" 4 (1936), pp. 107–119. * Cantalamessa, Raniero

OFMCap The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFM Obs., now OF ...

, (1993) ''Easter in the Early Church. An Anthology of Jewish and Early Christian Texts'', J.M. Quigley SJ, J.T. Lienhard SJ (translators & editors), Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, pp. 254. - * Floyd V. Filson, "More Bodmer Papyri", ''The Biblical Archaeologist'' 25 (1962), pp. 50–57. * ''Melito of Sardis. On Pascha and fragments'' (1979), Texts (Greek) and translation edits by S.G. Hall, Oxford, Clarendon Press, p. 99. * Hall, S.G., "The Melito Papyri",''Journal of Theological Studies'', 19 (1968), pp. 476–508. * Hall, S.G., (1970), Melito, Peri Pascha 1 and 2: Text and Interpretation, in: ''Kyriakon. Festschrift Johannes Quasten''. Eds. Patrick Granfield and Josef A. Jungmann, 1:236-248, Münster, Aschendorff. {{refend

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