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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

12.

The Pentecost, too, we observe, that is, the fiftieth day from the passion and resurrection of the Lord, for on that day He sent to us the Holy Paraclete whom He had promised; as was prefigured in the Jewish passover, for on the fiftieth day after the slaying of the lamb, Moses on the mount received the law written with the finger of God. ¹ If you read the Gospel, you will see that the Spirit is there called the finger of God. ² Remarkable events which happened on certain days are annually commemorated in the Church, that the recurrence of this festival may preserve the recollection of things so important and salutary. If you ask, then, why we keep the passover, it is because Christ was then sacrificed for us. If you ask why we do not retain the Jewish ceremonies, it is because they prefigured future realities which we commemorate as past; and the difference between the future and the past is seen in the different words we use for them. Of this we have already said enough.

Edition Hide
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

12.

Pentecosten etiam ‹custodimus›, id est a passione et resurrectione domini quinquagesimum diem, quo nobis sanctum spiritum paracletum, quem promiserat, misit. Quod futurum etiam per Iudaeorum pascha significatum est, cum quinquagesimo die post celebrationem ovis occisae Moyses digito dei scriptam legem accepit in monte. Legite evangelium et advertite ibi spiritum sanctum appellatum digitum dei. Ea quippe anniversarie in ecclesia celebrantur, quae insigniter excellentia certis diebus facta sunt, ut eorum necessariam salubremque memoriam festivitas concelebrata custodiat. Si vultis ergo nosse, quare celebramus pascha: quia tunc pro nobis immolatus est Christus. Si vultis nosse, quare non illud ritu Iudaico celebremus: quia illa erat venturi veri praefiguratio, haec completi commemoratio. p. 771,9 Futurum autem et praeteritum nec ipsis verbis nostris eodem modo enuntiatur. Unde iam satis in hoc opere locuti sumus.