Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 15, No. 4, April, 1886Various
Religion
Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 15, No. 4, April, 1886
Various
Periodicals
An ancient author remarks that it was not at the first or at the second
stopping-place of the Hebrews, but at the third, that the pillar went
before them, and he applies this triple encampment of Ramatha, Segor,
and Ethan to the three days of the Passion, the sepulture, and the
resurrection. Ramatha (_commotio tineæ_) well represents the day of the
Passion, when the Jews, after having torn the flesh of Jesus, like the
moth, attack His garments, His seamless tunic, endeavoring to rend the
unity of the Church. But death was the road by which He passed from
Ramatha to Segor (_tabernaculum_), that is, into the tent of the tomb.
The tent is for the soldier: like an indomitable warrior, Christ in the
tomb despoils His vanquished foe. Finally, the day of the resurrection
was the day of arrival in Ethan (_firmum vel signa ejus_), because,
thenceforth, death has no sting for Him, _mors ultra non dominabitur
illi_, and also because it was as a sign for the Apostles when He
appeared to them radiant after the night of the tomb, illumining them
like the pillar of fire.
But let us return to the deacon's prayers. He thus continues the chant
which he had broken off to light the candle:--
"This fire, though now divided, suffers no loss from the communication
of its light, because it is fed by the melted wax, produced by the bee,
to make this precious taper."
Then the lamps hanging in the church are lighted. This lighting takes
place only some time after that of the Paschal Candle, because the
knowledge of the resurrection was diffused only successively. Finally,
the deacon concludes the blessing in these words:
"O truly blessed light! which plundered the Egyptians and enriched the
Hebrews. A night in which heaven is united to earth, and the Divine to
the human! We beseech Thee, therefore, O Lord, let this candle,
consecrated to the honor of Thy name, continue burning to dissipate the
darkness of this night, and, being accepted as a sweet odor, be united
with the celestial lights. Let the morning-star find it burning. That
Morning-star, I mean, which never sets; which, being returned from hell,
shone with brightness on mankind."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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