1
The Interplay Between Jewish and Patristic Exegesis
in Melito of Sardis'
Peri Pascha
Frank Chan, Ph.D.
Nyack College, Nyack, NY
A fascinating study in the interplay between Jewish and patristic exegesis is
found in a Passover sermon of Melito, bishop of Sardis (Eusebius, E.H. 4.26.1),
which dates to around 160-170 AD. The sermon, known as Peri Pascha
("On the
Passover"), was published only sixty five years ago by Campbell Bonner,
1
and
was hailed by Frank Cross as the "most important addition to patristic
literature in
the present century."
2
The standard critical edition was published in 1979 by
Stuart Hall.
3
The first ten sections of Melitos sermon present a rather
sophisticated Christ-centered approach to the typological interpretation of the
OT.
In this paper I hope to show two things:
First, that Melito interpreted Exod 12 not just christologically, but
sacramentally
--that the smearing of lambs blood on the doorpost foreshadowed
the smearing of oil on the forehead in the act of baptismal anointing, a liturgical
practice very familiar to second century Christians.
4
Just as the Passover lamb
typifies Christ, so also Passover rite typifies the baptismal rite.
Second, I hope to show that Jewish exegetical traditions on Exod 12, to which
Melito prob
ably had access, made up the "interpretive milieu" surrounding this
text and that it was these traditions that made possible the typological connection
with baptismal anointing in Melitos mind.
1
Campbell Bonner, Melito of Sardis: Homily on the Passion with Some Fragments from
the Apocryphal Ezekiel (Studies and Documents 12; London: Christophers; Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1940). Melito is identified with a second century movement in
Asia Minor called Quartodecimanism. The Quartodecimans believed that the passion and
resurrection of Christ should be celebrated annually on the same day as Passover, the fourteenth
day of the month of Nisan, not on Easter Sunday as the church of Rome observed. The ancient
sources speak of a vigil the Quartodecimans held on Passover night, which was most likely the
setting for Peri Pascha.
2
F. L. Cross, Early Christian Fathers (London: Duckworth, 1960), 104.
3
Stuart G. Hall, Melito of Sardis, On Pascha and Fragments (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1979).
4
It is not entirely clear from our sources whether the Quartodeciman vigil included a
baptism. See Frank Chan, "Baptismal Typology in Meltio of Sardis Peri Pascha: A Study in the
Interpretation of Exodus 12 in the Second Century" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation,
Westminster
Theological Serminary, 2001), 55-77. The question of whether Melito is alluding to baptism must
rest on internal considerations alone.