The Washing Of Feet.
1. AND the Paschal Supper being ended, the lights were kindled, for it was even. And Iesus arose from the table and laid aside his garment, and girded himself with a towel, and pouring water into a basin, washed the feet of each of the fourfold Twelve, and wiped them with the towel with which he was girded.
2. And one of them said,
Lord, thou shalt not wash my feet.
And Iesus said,
If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me.
And he answered,
Lord, wash not my feet only, but my head and my hands.
3. And he said unto him,
They who have come out of the bath, need not but to wash their feet, and they are clean every whit.
New Commandment.
4. AND then putting on the overgarment of pure white linen without spot or seam, he sat at the table and said unto them,
Know ye what I have done unto you? Ye call me Lord and Master, and if then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another’s feet. For I have given this example, that as I have done unto you, so also should ye do unto others.
5. A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another and all the creatures of God. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Love is of God, and God is love. Whoso loveth not, knoweth not God.
6. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another and shew mercy and love to all creatures of God, especially to those that are weak and oppressed and suffer wrong. For the whole earth is filled with dark places of cruelty, and with pain and sorrow, by the selfishness and ignorance of man.
7. I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and give them light for their darkness and let the Spirit (of Love) dwell within your hearts, and abound unto all. And again I say unto you, Love one another, and all the creation (of God).
And when he had finished, they said,
Blessed be God.
8. Then he lifted up his voice, and they joined him, saying,
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
And when they had ended, one brought unto him a censer full of live coals, and he cast frankincense thereon even the frankincense (which his mother had given him in the day of his manifestation) and the sweetness of the odour filled the room.
The Eucharistic Oblation.
9. Then Iesus, placing before him the platter, and behind it the chalice, and lifting up his eyes to Heaven, gave thanks for the goodness (of God) in all things and unto all, and after that he took in his hands the unleavened bread, and blessed it; the wine likewise mingled with water and blessed it; chanting the Invocation of the Holy Name the Sevenfold, calling upon the thrice Holy Father-Mother in Heaven to send down the Holy Spirit and make the bread to be his body (even the Body of the Christ) and the fruit of the vine to be his Blood (even the Blood of the Christ) for the remission of sins and everlasting life, to all who obey the gospel.
10. Then lifting up the Oblation towards Heaven, he said,
The Son (who is also the Daughter of man) is lifted up from the earth, and I shall draw all men unto me; then it shall be known (of the people) that I am sent from God.
11. These things being done, Iesus spake these words, lifting his eyes to Heaven.
Abba Amma, the hour is come, Glorify thy Son that Thy Son may be glorified in thee.
12. Yea, Thou hast glorified me, Thou hast filled my heart with fire, Thou hast set lamps on my right hand and on my left, so that no part of my being should be without light. Thy Love shineth on my right hand and on my left, so that no part of my being should be without light. Thy Love shineth on my right hand, and Thy Wisdom on my left. Thy Love, Thy Wisdom, Thy Power are manifest in me.
13. I have glorified Thee on earth, I have finished the work Thou gavest me to do. Holy One, keep through Thy Name the Twelve and their fellows whom Thou hast given me, that they may be One even as we are One. Whilst I was with them in the world I kept them in Thy Name, and none of them is lost, for he who went out from us, was not of us, nevertheless, I pray for him that he may be restored. Father-Mother, forgive him, for he knoweth not what he doeth.
14. And now come I to Thee, and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I give them Thy word, and the world hath them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15. I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from evil, whilst yet in the world, Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy word is Truth. As thou sendest me into the world, so also I send them into the world, and for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the Truth.
16. Neither pray I for these alone, but for all that shall be added to their number, and for the Two and Seventy also whom I sent forth, yea, and for all that shall believe in the Truth through Thy word, that they also may be one [as] Thou Most Holy art in me and I in Thee, that they may also be one in Thee, that the world may know that Thou hast sent me.
17. Holy Parent, I will also, that they whom Thou hast given me, yea all who live, be with me where I am, that they may partake of my glory (which thou givest me) for Thou lovest me in all, and all in me, from before the foundations of the world.
18. The world hath not known Thee in Thy righteousness, but I know Thee, and these know that Thou hast sent me.
19. And I have declared unto them Thy Name that the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them, and that from them it may abound (even unto all Thy creatures) yea, even unto all
These words being ended, they all lifted up their voices with him, and prayed as he taught them, saying:
20. Our Father-Mother:
Who art above and within.
Hallowed be Thy sacred Name, in Biune[1] Trinity.
In Wisdom, Love and Equity Thy Kingdom come to all.
Thy holy Will be done always, as in Heaven, so on Earth.
Give us day by day to partake of Thy holy Bread, and the fruit of Thy living Vine.
As we seek to perfect others, so perfect us in Thy Christ.
Shew upon us Thy goodness, that to others we many shew the same.
In the hour of trial, deliver us from evil.
21. For Thine are the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory:
From the Ages of ages,
Now, and to the Ages of ages.
Amun.
22. THEN our Master taketh the holy Bread and breaketh it, and the Fruit of the Vine also, and mingleth it, and having blessed and hallowed both, and casting a fragment of the Bread into the Cup, he blessed the holy Union.
23. Then he giveth the bread which he had hallowed to his disciples saying,
Eat ye, for this is my Body, even the Body of the Christ, which is given for the Salvation of the body and the soul.
24. Likewise he giveth unto them the fruit of the Vine which he had blessed saying unto them,
Drink ye, for this is my Blood, even the Blood of the Christ which is shed for you and for many, for the Salvation of the Soul and the Body.
25. And when all had partaken, he said unto them,
As oft as ye assemble together in my Name, make this Oblation for a Memorial of me, even the Bread (of everlasting Life) and the Wine (of Eternal salvation)’ and eat and drink thereof with pure heart, and ye shall receive of the Substance and the Life (of God) which dwelleth in me.
26. And when they had sung a hymn, Iesus stood up in the midst of his apostles, and going to him (who was their Centre) as in a solemn dance, they rejoiced in him. And then he went out to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.
27. Now Judas Iscariot had gone to the house (of Caiaphas) and said unto him,
Behold he has celebrated the Passover, within the gates, with the Mazza in place of the lamb. I indeed bought a lamb, but he forbade that it should be killed, and lo, the man of whom I bought it is witness.
28. And Caiaphas rent his clothes and said,
Truly this is a Passover of the law of Moses. He hath done the deed which is worthy of death, for it is a weighty transgression of the law. What need of further witness? Yea, even now two robbers have broken into the Temple and stolen the book of the law, and this is the end of his teaching. Let us tell these things to the people who follow him, for they will fear the authority of the law.
29. And one that was standing by as Judas came out, said unto him,
Thinkest thou that they will put him to death?
30. And Judas said,
Nay, for he will do some mighty work to deliver himself out of their hands, even as when they of the synagogue in Capernaum rose up against him, and brought him to the brow of the hill that they might throw him down headlong, and did he not pass safely through their midst? He will surely escape them now also, and proclaim himself openly and set up the Kingdom whereof he spake.
LECTION 76. 4. -There are two other alternative versions of these circumstances of the last supper in the A. V .-First, that of St. John who, in the received version, expressly affirms that Iesus was crucified on the very day of the Passover and consequently the Eucharist was instituted the day before and not on the feast day Itself' and the Passover was on the morrow after the trial on the day of the crucifixion. Secondly, that of the three other gospels, which all affirm that the Eucharist was Instituted on the Passover the pascal lamb was slain. If the latter, it must be remembered that the Essenes (of whom Iesus was apparently one), were by Jewish regulation allowed a separate table at which no lamb or other flesh-meat was eaten, as they were vowed abstainers from blood sacrifices and the eating of flesh. If the former it was not the Passover at all, and Iesus was not bound as a Jew to eat of a lamb. In neither of these cases, therefore, was Jesus under the alleged necessity of killing a lamb and eating of flesh-meat in order to fulfill the law. In any case the causing of an innocent lamb to be killed and the eating of such is contrary to all that is known of the character of Iesus the Christ, whose tender love extends to all creatures. If Iesus was not an Essene, then nothing can be said against the accuracy of this version of the holy supper, and the charges brought against him in the account of the trial as now given by the Spirit.
v. 9. -"Bread," i.e. unleavened cakes of pure meal such as in use at the Passover. "Wine," here and through the Gospels, as used by Jesus and His disciples, means "the fruit of the Vine." which is pure wine mingled with four or two parts of pure water, the latter mystically representing the humanity, and the former the Divine Spirit. The strong fermented wine of modem use was never used on such festive occasions, nor even generally, except thus mingled with water. It is to be noted that the Saviour consecrated the Eucharist by Invocation of the Holy Spirit, and this has been faithfully followed by all Churches of the East, the words of institution being merely recited before, as a historical preamble, giving the authority for the action, and in no case as the words of consecration, according to the corrupt use of the West.
v. 13. -In the received Gospel Iudas is consigned to eternal perdition, but it appears rather that he who was all compassion and prayed for his murderers, prayed also for the man who was overmastered by his passions, blinded by envy, jealousy, greed of money, or, as some say, by desire to push matters to their conclusion, and procure some decisive miracle that would establish the claim of his Master to set up a temporal kingdom.
v. 26. -It is not stated whether there was any musical accompaniment, as is usual in the religious dances and processions of the East, but if so it was probably of the simplest, such as the Pipe, used on such occasions.
v. 27. -The Mazza, or unleavened cake, to which may the word "Mass" be traced as applied to the Eucharist, or "Breaking of Bread" -but preferable perhaps is the interpretation of "ite missa est " -the oblation ( = prayer) is gone, "sent up."
v. 30. -Here was perhaps more probably the sole motive actuating Judas -his ambition- the desire to see a miracle, and the early sovereignty set up before the time.
Definition:Both two and one at the same time.