And the day of unleavened bread came, on which the Passover lamb was to be buried, and Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare for us to eat the Passover." And they said unto him, Where dost thou command us to cook? He said to them, "Behold, when you are entering the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house into which he enters, and say to the master of the house, 'The Master says to you, 'Where is the room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?' And he will show you a large upper room, which is furnished; Cook there.

     That the Passover, in Hebrew called facek, means the exodus from Egypt, was said by many, and in general everything that was done then on this feast was explained by the saints. And we need to say what day is called the day of unleavened bread. "The day of unleavened bread" is the name given to the Thursday, on the evening of which the Passover was to be buried. Thus, on Thursdays, perhaps in the morning, the Lord sends the disciples Peter and John, one as loving, the other as beloved, He sends them to a "stranger's" house; for neither Himself nor the disciples had anything of their own, otherwise He would have celebrated the Passover with one of the disciples. Look, what poverty! He sends them to an unknown person to show that He accepts suffering voluntarily. For if He did not wish to suffer, then, inclining the mind of this unknown man to receive them (Himself and His disciples), He could have done in the Jews what pleased Him. Some say that the Lord did not say the name of this man and did not declare him, but leads the disciples to his house according to some sign, so that the betrayer, having learned the name, would not show the Pharisees this house, and they would not come to take Him before He established the supper, before He taught His spiritual mysteries. That is why Christ, after a while, says: "I very much desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffered." That is, I have made every effort for us to hide ourselves from the betrayer, so that we may not be subjected to suffering before the time before I administer the sacraments. Anyone who wants can accept such an explanation. - Why does the Lord celebrate Pascha? In order to prove by all His actions to the last breath that He is not an opponent of the Law. Let us also eat this Passover wisely, let us understand by the day of unleavened bread the whole life spent in the spiritual light, which does not have in the least the decrepitude of the former disobedience in Adam. Leading a truly such life, we must feast upon the mysteries of Jesus. These mysteries will be prepared by Peter and John, activity and contemplation, ardent zeal and peaceful meekness. For the believer must be ardent to do good, zealous against evil, and meek to those who do evil. For evil should be hated, and not he who does evil. This one needs to be treated, for he suffers. To do evil means to be troubled by the evil one and to suffer malice. If we have Peter and John preparing the supper, that is, the good life that Peter portrays, and the true teaching that John the Theologian portrays, then we will meet with such preparers, that is, we will then find a truly human being, created in the image of the Creator, or rather, the Creator, carrying a pitcher of water. Water signifies the grace of the Spirit, as the Evangelist John teaches (7:38-39), and the pitcher signifies the destructibility and softness of the heart. For he who receives spiritual grace is humble and contrite in heart, but the Lord giveth grace to the humble (James 4:6). Conscious of himself as earth and ashes, and saying to Job, "Thou hast made me like clay." (Job 10:9), he will bear the grace of the Spirit in the breakable and indestructible vessel of his heart. Following such a mood, we will enter the house of the mind, whose master, the mind, will show us a large room that has been cleaned. The "upper room" is the high room of the mind, that is, the divine and spiritual objects among which it lives and treats with love. They are removed, for they have nothing harsh, but even that which is crooked for such a mind is made the right way, as Solomon said: "They are all clear to him who understands, and just to them that have acquired knowledge" (Proverbs 8:9). You will not sin if you say that the mind, although it performs a lofty deed, acts according to the power of the mind, nevertheless, its knowledge is still extended and very close to the earth. But knowledge is truly high, and ignorance, which surpasses the intellect, is higher than all height, when the intellect no longer acts, but perceives action. First we must act with our minds, then the grace of the Lord will work in us, rapturing us, as well as the prophets, and rejecting all natural power. Truly it is said that in such and such a prophet there was a rapture from the Lord. Just as here, when this upper room is cleaned, Jesus comes with His disciples and performs the sacraments, coming to us Himself and manifesting His own power in us, and not waiting for us to come to Him. The "disciples" of God the Word are all reflections on created things. When the Word works in us in this way, then we will understand the communion of Pascha and will be even more satiated with contemplation of created things, according to what is said: "I look to heaven, the work of Thy fingers" (Psalm 8:4).

     They went, and found it, as He had told them, and prepared the Passover. And when the hour came, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him, and said to them, "I longed very much to eat this passover with you before my suffering, for I say to you that I will eat it no more until it is finished in the kingdom of God." And taking the cup, and giving thanks, he said, Take it, and divide it among yourselves, for I say unto you, that I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And having taken bread, and having given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given up for you. do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. 

The Passover was eaten standing up: how then is it said of the Lord that He reclined? It is said that, having eaten the lawful Passover, they lay down afterwards, according to the general custom, to eat some other viands. - The Lord says to His disciples: "I very much desired to eat this Passover with you before My suffering." It is as if He were saying: This is the last supper for Me with you, therefore it is pleasing and desirable to Me, for in the time to come I will not eat with you. This is like how those who have to go on a journey conduct their last speeches with relatives and friends with greater sweetness and love. And in other words: I very much desired to eat this Passover with you, because in it I have to teach you the great mysteries – the mysteries of the New Testament. By this He shows that He will voluntarily suffer. For He, since He knew of the impending sufferings, it was undoubtedly possible for Him to avoid them, just as in the preceding time (John 8:59). The words: "I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes" were understood by some of the saints in this way: until I am resurrected. For after the resurrection, when He dealt with His disciples, He ate and drank with them, as Peter also says to Cornelius: "And they ate and drank with Him, after His resurrection from the dead" (Acts 10:41). That the resurrection is the Kingdom of God is obvious. For resurrection is the destruction of death. Death reigned from Adam to Christ; and from that time, being destroyed, it yielded the victory and the kingdom to the Lord, as it is written: "Death! Where is your victory?" (Hos. 13:15). And David says: "The Lord reigns" (Psalm 92:1), and then, in explanation of how He reigned, he adds: "clothed with majesty," when the body was delivered from corruption and adorned with Divinity, as Isaiah says: "so majestic in His garment, appearing in the fullness of His power" (63:1). And the Lord Himself after His resurrection says: "All authority is given to Me" (Matt. 28:18). Thus, when the resurrection came, which, as having destroyed death, is called the Kingdom of God, the Lord again drank with His disciples, assuring that He had not risen illusory. - Others understood the Kingdom of God to be the future state, and by the Lord's drink with us in the age to come, the revelation of His mysteries. For He, the Lover of mankind, rejoices Himself in rejoicing in us, and in nourishing us, He Himself is nourished, and our drink and food, that is, teaching, He counts as food for Himself. And so, He will then drink some new drink with the worthy, always revealing to them something new and extraordinary. - I think Luke mentions two cups. Of one he says: "Receive it and divide it among yourselves," which some may call an image of the Old Testament, and of the other he speaks after the breaking and distribution of bread. The Lord Himself divides it among the disciples, calls it the New Testament and says that it is renewed in His blood. For when the Old Law was given, the blood of irrational animals was used as a seal (Exodus 24:5-8); and now, when God the Word has become Man, the New Covenant is sealed for us with His blood. The words, "which is given up for you" and "which is shed for you," do not show that His body was betrayed and His blood was shed for the apostles alone, but for the entire human race. And so, when he says that "for you" he is betrayed, you understand: for your human race. - The ancient Passover was celebrated for deliverance from slavery in Egypt, and the blood of the lamb was shed for the preservation of the firstborn: and the new Passover was for the remission of sins and for the preservation of thoughts appointed and consecrated to God. - Bread is taught first, and then the cup. For before there is a difficult and inconvenient activity. Virtue is preceded by sweat, just as bread is not only cultivated by the sweat of the brow, but also requires labor during its use (Gen. 3:19). Then, after the labors, there is joy from the grace of God, which is signified by the chalice. For whoever labors in inconvenient virtue is subsequently worthy of gifts and experiences good intoxication, renouncing this world, like Paul and David, or, to put it still more boldly, like God in the prophet Habakkuk (3:14).

     And behold, the hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me at the table; however, the Son of Man goes according to His destiny, but woe to the man to whom He is betrayed. And they began to ask each other which one of them would be that would do it. There was also a dispute between them, which of them should be considered the greatest. And he said to them, Kings rule over the nations, and those who rule over them are called benefactors, but you are not so: but whoever of you is greater, let him be as the least, and the ruler as the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines or the one who serves? Is he not reclining? But I am in your midst as a servant.

     There is nothing more miserable than a soul that is rigid in stubbornness. For behold what the Lord says: Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me at the table, and the fool has not been sensed. The Lord says this not only to show that He knows what is about to happen, but also in order to show us His goodness and the malice of the betrayer, for which he was not ashamed to be at His supper, and then did not abandon the fulfillment of his intention. The Lord also gives us a model for this, so that we strive to the end for the benefit of those who fall. And "the Son of man," he says, "is coming, not because he cannot defend himself, but because he has ordained death for the salvation of men. But woe to the man to whom He surrenders." Though He is destined to suffer, why are you so angry as to betray Him? For this reason "woe" will fall into your lot, because you have been inclined to betrayal, since the serpent is also cursed because it served as an instrument of the devil's wiles. - Hearing this, the disciples were confused. You will learn more about this in the commentary on the Gospel of John (ch. 13). They are now troubled not only by the suspicion of betrayal, but from this confusion they pass on to dispute, arguing about which of them is greater. They came to an argument about this successively. Probably one of them said to the other, "You want to betray him," and this one again said to him, "No, you want to betray him." From here they proceeded to the fact that they began to say: I am better, I am more, and so on. What about the Lord? He calms their confusion with two examples. First, by the example of the Gentiles, whom they considered filthy, declaring that if they thought so, they would be like the Gentiles. Secondly, by His own example, for by explaining that He serves them, He thereby leads them to humility. It was at that time, as it is said, that He divided the bread and the cup with them. If I, Whom all angelic and rational creatures worship, serve in your midst, how dare you think much of yourselves, and argue about primacy? It seems to me that He did not mention this reclining and service in passing, but to remind them that if you ate of the same bread and drank of the same cup, then one meal makes you friends and of one mind. Why then do you have thoughts unworthy of them? Moreover, I have not done so that I should serve one and not the other, and all of you are equal. Therefore, you also have the same feelings. Perhaps, from all this, you will understand how the disciples were then still imperfect, and afterwards shone so wonderfully. Let the Manichaeans be ashamed, who say that some are incapable of learning by nature, and that it is impossible for them to change.

     But ye have been with me in my afflictions, and I command unto you, as my Father hath bequeathed unto me, the kingdom, that ye go and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit down on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. And the Lord said, Simon! Simon! Behold, Satan asked to sow you as wheat, but I prayed for you, that your faith might not fail; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. He answered Him, "Lord! with Thee I am ready to go to prison and to death. But He said, "I say to you, Peter, the will not crow today, until you deny three times that you do not know Me."