Didascalia Apostolorum

Historical source scan page 123

DIDASCALIA. 95 that "l'm the evening of the Sabbath, when the first day of the week dawned1, came Mary, and another Mary, the Magdalene, to see the Matt, sepulchre. And there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord came down and rolled the stone." And again the Sabbath-day. Then 2 three hours of the night after the Sabbath, in which our Lord slept [and rose], and the saying was fulfilled (marg. Take heed !) that "it is required Matt. xii. 40 of the Son of Man that He should pass through the heart of the earth, three days and three nights," as it is written in the Gospel. Again, it is written in David, " Behold, thou hast appointed my days by measure," gSJ.'J-"xix' because therefore these days and nights are made shorter. Thus it is written, "In the night therefore, as the first day of the week dawned, He was seen Cf. Matt. by Mary Magdalene, and by Mary the daughter of James ; and in the night of the first day of the week He went in to Levi, and then He was seen also by us." But He said unto us when He was teaching us, "Will ye AP- Con- fast because of Me in these days ? or do I need that ye afflict yourselves ? but for the sake of your brethren ye have done this, and do it in these days when ye fast ; and on Wednesday, and on Friday at all times, as it is written in Zechariah, ' The fast of the fourth and the fast of the fifth,' jgCh' which is Friday ; for it is not lawful for you to fast on Sunday, because it belongs to My resurrection ; wherefore Sunday is not counted amongst the numbers of the fast-days of the Passion, but they are counted from Monday, and are five days. Therefore let the fourth fast, and the fifth fast, and the seventh fast, and the tenth fast be to those of the house of Israel. Fast, therefore, from Monday, fully six days, until the night after the Sabbath, and let it be counted to you as a week; but the tenth, because the beginning of My name is &yodz, in which is the beginning of the fasts, but is not as a feast of the former people, but as a new covenant which I have appointed to you, that you should fast on their behalf on Wednesday, because on Wednesday they began to destroy themselves and laid hold of Me ; for the night after Tuesday, which was Wednesday, as it is written, that ' the evening and the morning were one day,' the evening [see that thou take Gen. i. 19 heed !] therefore belongs to the day that follows it, for on Tuesday in the evening I ate with you My passover, and in the night they laid hold on Me [fast then], but again also on Friday, fast on their behalf, because on it they crucified Me in the midst of their feast of unleavened bread, as it was foretold by David, 'In the midst of their feasts they have put their Ps.ixxiv.4 1 Cod. Brit. Mus. adds here "He rose ; and again it was the Sabbath day, and then three hours of the night after the Sabbath, in which our Lord rose " 2 The letter yod, being the tenth letter in the Hebrew and Syriac alphabets, serves also as a numeral signifying 10.