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Translated by Allan Menzies.
This Part: 132 Pages
Page 59
34. The Morning and Evening Sacrifices of the Saint in His Life of Thought.
But if any one asks what the saint is to do in the time between morning and evening, let him follow what takes place in the cultus and infer from it the principle he asks for. In that case the priests begin their offerings with the continual sacrifice, and before they come to the continuous one of the evening they offer the other sacrifices which the law prescribes, as, for example, that for transgression, or that for involuntary offences, or that connected with a prayer for salvation, or that of jealousy, or that of the Sabbath, or of the new moon, and so on, which it would take too long to mention. So we, beginning our oblation with the discourse of that type which is Christ, can go on to discourse about many other most useful things. And drawing to a close still in the things of Christ, we come, as it were, to evening and night, when we arrive at the bodily features of His manifestation.
35. Jesus is a Lamb in Respect of His Human Nature.
If we enquire further into the significance of Jesus being pointed out by John, when he says, "This is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," we may take our stand at the dispensation of the bodily advent of the Son of God in human life, and in that case we shall conceive the lamb to be no other than the man. For the man "was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb, dumb before his shearers," [4960] saying, "I was as like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter." [4961] Hence, too, in the Apocalypse [4962] a lamb is seen, standing as if slain. This slain lamb has been made, according to certain hidden reasons, a purification of the whole world, for which, according to the Father's love to man, He submitted to death, purchasing us back by His own blood from him who had got us into his power, sold under sin. And He who led this lamb to the slaughter was God in man, the great High-Priest, as he shows by the words: [4963] "No one taketh My life away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."
[4960] Isa. liii. 7.
[4961] Jer. xi. 19.
[4962] v. 6.
[4963] John x. 18.
Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/origen/john-commentary-2.asp?pg=59