¹ Regarding solemnities, Sabbaths, and new moons, which the Lord commands to be observed in the Law, and under the directive of your charity to explain what ought to be rejected according to the letter and what should be observed spiritually, we are first compelled to respond to the lovers of the letter and adversaries of the truth. Although I could rightly repulse them, I choose rather to address them gently and mildly.

² Addressing them, I desire to lead them to the knowledge of the truth. These are individuals who, while eager to chew on the bitter bark of the root, spurn the fruit; who marvel at the dust of gold yet despise the crafted metal. For although they insist on observing all things according to the letter of the Law, with the veil placed over Moses’ face, they are unable to be enlightened by the light of the spirit and truth. Even if they do not yield to the truth, we must, like the scapegoat, bear them on the shoulders of our patience, prepared to give an account of the faith that is within us, even for their own ruin… and afterward cleanse our garments, lest we remain polluted by the contamination of their heretical thoughts.

³ At the outset of this work, following the example of Jeremiah, we propose first to uproot and destroy, and then to plant and build. We wish to demonstrate from the Scriptures that these feasts of the Lord, commanded by the Law to be observed, are not to be celebrated as mere shadows but in a spiritual manner. And if anyone seeks to belittle the authority of our feeble efforts, let them heed the prophets, who with foresight predicted the rejection of these practices in the time of the Gospel, even declaring this in the words of the Lord Himself: “Your feast days and your new moons and your Sabbaths, my soul hates,” and again: “These things I did not command,” though it is clear He commanded them in the Law. What else do these words indicate, but that, when Christ, the fulfillment of the Law, arrived, He did not mandate the observance of these practices according to the letter?

⁴ Concerning sacrifices, another prophet declares: “I will not reprove you for your sacrifices; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock from your house nor goats from your folds,” and further on: “Shall I drink the blood of goats?” To these words, the Apostle, filled with the same Spirit, fittingly adds: “Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of things to come,” and so on. These words most clearly demonstrate that whether in observing temporal days or consuming earthly foods, nothing more than an empty shadow and the deception of error can be found.

⁵ The Lord Jesus Himself also declared the dissolution of the Sabbath in the Gospel when He commanded the paralytic: “Take up your bed,” even though the Law clearly prohibited carrying burdens on the Sabbath. He also dissolved the Feast of Tabernacles when He said: “I am not going up to this festival,” as if to say: In the observance of this festival, my glory is not revealed.

⁶ Regarding Easter, as the greatest sacrament of our salvation, I intend to speak a little more extensively. Although it is not the time to discuss everything, I wish first to explain the reasons why and how the Lord’s Easter is to be observed. On the tenth day of the first month, a lamb, an unblemished lamb, was to be set apart and kept until the fourteenth day. On the fourteenth day, it was to be slain at evening by the entire assembly of the children of Israel, as commanded by the Lord through Moses. The reasons for this, some of which the Lord, the true Lamb, chose to preserve as He proceeded toward the true Easter, while others He wished to alter, are evident.

⁷ He, having deigned to be sacrificed in the first month according to the Law’s command and ensuring that His passion did not precede the fourteenth day of the moon, is narrated in the Gospel to have acted against certain figures. For example, when He was handed over by Judas to the Jews, He was not seized on the tenth day of the first month. Also, when He granted His disciples the sacraments of His body and blood during His life, this is shown to have been contrary to the figure, since the lamb in the type of Christ, commanded to be sacrificed at Easter, was to be roasted with fire and consumed by the people with its head, feet, and entrails after its slaughter.

⁸ As it seems to me, God is known to have done this for two reasonable causes. First, in case, having eaten the Passover with His disciples and not afterward transformed the sacrifice, saying, “This is my body,” it might be believed that it should still be observed in this way. Secondly, as I think, this was done so that, when the Lord’s body, they saw the whole and integral body of Christ, containing His own blood, before His passion, and they believed that they were spiritually nourished by it in His body. And so, even now, we must also believe this. Furthermore, we should observe that “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” and “Christ our Passover, sacrificed for us,” was not offered on the fourteenth day at evening, as the Law prescribes, but on the fifteenth day, which clearly demonstrates that the Lord abolished the Jewish festival along with its sacrifice.

⁹ What then should we understand from the fact that the apostles first ate the flesh of the figurative lamb and afterward were nourished with the food of Christ’s own body, and that Christ was sacrificed as our Passover after the Jewish typology? This, I believe, was not so that truth might follow the figure, but that the figure might precede the truth, for “not first the spiritual, but the natural, and then the spiritual.” Hence, the chosen and beloved bride of Christ, the universal Church, condemns those who, along with the Jews, insist on observing the fourteenth moon for the Paschal festival and other such shadowy observances.

¹⁰ The Lord deigned to observe only this: that the Paschal feast should, without ambiguity, be celebrated in the first month after the fourteenth day, on the Sunday following. Although some diversity arose in the Church regarding this matter—some believing it sufficient not to celebrate Passover with the Jews on the fourteenth, while others cautiously maintained that the sacrifice of the true Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, should not be celebrated before the fourteenth day—the Church, following the authority of the Apostolic See, now adheres to this practice. Yet, leaving aside these disputes, which are not the subject of the present discussion, let us turn our minds to spiritual understanding.

¹¹ We are commanded to eat the flesh of the Paschal lamb on the fourteenth day of the month of new beginnings, so that as new fruits of good works are born in us, and when we have fulfilled the words of the Decalogue, we may, in the perfection of the Gospel (comprising the number four), partake of the flesh of our Lamb at the evening of the world, where the end of the ages has arrived. Let us, with hearts darkened but illuminated by the Holy Spirit during the night, consume it.

¹² We are commanded to work for six days, but on the seventh, which is the Sabbath, we are prohibited from performing any servile work. The number six signifies the perfection of works, as God made heaven and earth in six days. On the Sabbath, we are forbidden to perform any servile work—that is, sin—because “everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Thus, when we have completed the perfection of works in this present age, and without hardening our hearts, we may merit entering into true rest, which is denied to the obstinate.

¹³ From the day after the Sabbath, the Law commands us to count seven full weeks, up to the day after the completion of the seventh week—that is, the fiftieth day, on which the firstfruits are offered. This counting, which is based on the perfection of the numbers seven and fifty, amounts to ten multiplied by five. This, I believe, signifies that by the number fifty, which includes remission, we are led by love—infused into our hearts through the grace of the sevenfold Spirit—and our five bodily senses are subjected to the law of God, which contains the words of the Decalogue. By love, as I said, which “covers a multitude of sins, we offer a new sacrifice to the Lord from all our dwelling places, yielding our victims to the use of the great High Priest, along with our peace offerings.

¹⁴ We will offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, who, as the High Priest, having passed through the heavens, is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He, who as our advocate with the Father, consumes them—our works—which, fermented with the leaven of our fragility, are lifted up by the hand of this priest through the operation of his work. He devours them through the bowels of mercy. These do not offer a fragrance of sweetness to God but rather call forth indulgence.

¹⁵ At the end of the solar year among the Hebrews, that is, in the seventh month, when the fruits are gathered into barns or cellars, it was commanded by law that certain celebrations take place. On the first day, the Feast of Trumpets (Tubarum), must be observed; on the tenth day, the Day of Atonement (Expiationum) must be kept as a sabbath. From the fifteenth day and for seven days, until they conclude on the eighth day, the Feast of Tabernacles (Tabernaculorum) is prescribed. These may perhaps signify that, because we are consecrated at the end of the age by the threefold sacrament of invocation—by the trumpet of preaching, the faith of the gospel, and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, in which is true atonement—we must not cease to learn, even after the time of the law has ended. Once we have gathered the fresh fruits of good works, being at rest from all evil deeds, and having received the perfection of grace through the sevenfold Spirit, we may merit to reach the numbers of the eighth beatitude. This, however, is undoubtedly achieved through the labors of fasting and prayer, for the law also commands the soul to be afflicted.

¹⁶ On the new moon, the trumpet is to be blown. This signifies that whoever has been illuminated by the light of knowledge must not cease to proclaim it to others. Paul, illuminated by the brilliance of the knowledge of Christ, did not neglect to observe this, preaching in the synagogues of the Jews.

¹⁷ I had intended to say a few words about sacrifices, which, since they contain the figure of the true priest’s offering, must also be spiritually offered by us to the Lord. For through the calf is signified our labor; through the lamb, innocence; through the goat, the mortification of sinful lust; through the she-goat, which grazes in high pastures, the contemplative life; through the ram, the work of preaching, which generates lambs for the good shepherd. The turtledove signifies the chastity of a solitary mind joined to none but Christ; the dove signifies a sharper insight into mysteries; the bread signifies the solidity of precepts; the fine flour, the sincerity of life; the wine and salt signifies the truth of preaching; and the oil signifies the balm of charity. The law commands that all these things, whether feasts or sacrifices, be celebrated and offered in one place because all are beneficial only when they are performed in the unity of the Church without any error of schism.

¹⁸ Writing this brief discussion in a small amount of fine linen, I, a poor stranger, have not hesitated to compose this little note for you, O venerable pope, because perfect love casts out fear. I also trust this, venerable father: that obedience with faith is of greater worth than the capacity of human ingenuity. These words were both requested by you and spoken by me for those who, though they appear Christian on the surface, through the impiety of a Jewish mindset, do not fear to rend the body of Christ, that is, the Church, with their schisms. These matters we have passed over briefly; if they were to be discussed in full, they would require a great volume, which is not suitable at this time, as such matters demand a great deal of leisure. Pray for me, venerable pope.