Another reading from the Pachomian Koinonia:
LETTER OF OUR FATHER THEODORE TO ALL THE MONASTERIES ABOUT THE PASSOVER
Close at hand is the solemnity of the Unleavened Bread, when it is time to celebrate the Passover, about which Moses gave this precept to the people coming out of Egypt: You shall eat it very quickly. The righteous king Josiah also celebrated the Passover with great care in his days, and the account of his zeal has come down to us. The Apostle also has this to say about it: Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed. In Him therefore let us celebrate the feast, as we have been commanded.
Put a girdle around your waist and the sandals of the Gospel on your feet, having your staves in your hands with your lamps lit, so that we may be able to eat the Passover hastily. Let us go up to Jerusalem six days before the Passover, and let us sanctify ourselves in order to celebrate the holy day in holiness, in purity and truth, having got rid of evil and wickedness. This is the commandment we have received from the Apostle and from our Father (Pachomius) who founded the life of the Koinonia.
Let us all assemble together in peace, in compliance with rules which should not be forsaken. let no one of us desire to stay in his monastery if this has not been decided by the superiors. Likewise let no one come to join the assembly except by order of the superiors.
As for us who are seen to be the masters of the brothers and to teach them their rules of life, let us not allow them to stay home without serious necessity, lest the assembly of the Passover be forsaken by our fault and we be found guilty of depriving the precepts of our Father (Pachomius) of any value. Let us rather consider his writings as the norm of truth, and glorify God who made his families like flocks, at the sight of which the righteous rejoice and all wickedness must harden its heart.
Let us, the elders of the sons of Israel, with our seconds, all come to the Passover and let no one be found remaining behind without fulfilling the rules of our Father (Pachomius). Likewise, let the stewards of the monasteries, the housemasters and all the classes of brothers, let all the members come into one body to build the temple of God. Let us assemble in peace and harmony, and so fulfill the aim of the saints and the rules of our Father (Pachomius).
As for the catechumens in the monasteries who are expecting the awesome remission of sins and the grace of the spiritual mystery, let them be taught by you that they must weep and lament their past sins and prepare themselves for the sanctification of their souls and bodies, so that they may bear the reception of the Lord Saviour's blodd and body, the very thought of which is awesome.
You know very well the other things you have to do to prepare yourselves at the proper time, and it is not necessary to remind you of them by letter. Our Father (Pachomius) has ordered them.
We and all the brothers who are with us wholeheartedly tgreet you with all the brothers who are in your monasteries.