Early Apologists
On Pascha
Melito of Sardis · c. 165 – 180
Historical Context
Bishop of Sardis in Asia Minor and a leading Quartodeciman celebrant of Pascha; his great paschal homily was lost until a papyrus discovery in the 1930s.
Summary
A poetic and rhetorically brilliant homily on Exodus 12 and the passion of Christ, presenting Christ as the true Passover Lamb who is 'led as a sheep and slain as a lamb.' The homily gave the ancient Church one of its earliest and most powerful Christological hymns.
Major Themes
- Typology of Passover
- Christ as Paschal Lamb
- Christology
- Rhetorical homiletics
Important Quotations
“He is the Passover of our salvation… who suffered many things in many people.”— On Pascha 69
Primary Sources
Further Reading
- Alistair Stewart-Sykes, Melito of Sardis: On Pascha