2. For the feast is not on account of the days; but for the Lord's sake, who then suffered for us, we celebrate it, for 'our Passover Christ, is sacrificed [4079] .' Even as Moses, when teaching Israel not to consider the feast as pertaining to the days, but to the Lord, said, 'It is the Lord's Passover [4080] .' To the Jews, when they thought they were keeping the Passover, because they persecuted the Lord, the feast was useless; since it no longer bore the name of the Lord, even according to their own testimony. It was not the Passover of the Lord, but that of the Jews [4081] . The Passover was named after the Jews, my brethren, because they denied the Lord of the Passover. On this account, the Lord, turning away His face from such a doctrine of theirs, saith, 'Your new moons and your sabbaths My soul hateth [4082] .'
[4079] 1 Cor. v. 7.
[4080] Exod. xii. 11.
[4081] Cf. John vi. 4. 'And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.' Cf. Origenis Comment. in Joannem, tom. x. S:11. p. 172. ed. 1759.
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