Letters

¹⁴ For the Lord of death would abolish death, and being Lord, what He would was accomplished; for we have all passed from death unto life. But the imagination of the Jews, and of those who are like them, was vain, since the result was not such as they contemplated, but turned out adverse to themselves; and 'at both of them He that sits in the heaven shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. ' Hence, when our Saviour was led to death, He restrained the women who followed Him weeping, saying, 'Weep not for Me;' meaning to show that the Lord's death is an event, not of sorrow but of joy, and that He Who dies for us is alive.

For He does not derive His being from those things which are not, but from the Father. It is truly a subject of joy, that we can see the signs of victory against death, even our own incorruptibility, through the body of the Lord. For since He rose gloriously, it is clear that the resurrection of all of us will take place; and since His body remained without corruption, there can be no doubt regarding our incorruption. For as by one man, as says Paul (and it is the truth), sin passed upon all men, so by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall all rise. 'For,' he says, 'this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.'

Now this came to pass in the time of the Passion, in which our Lord died for us, for 'our Passover, Christ, is sacrificed. ' Therefore, because He was sacrificed, let each of us feed upon Him, and with alacrity and diligence partake of His sustenance; since He is given to all without grudging, and is in every one 'a well of water flowing to everlasting life.'