Letter 114: This is the explanation of the three periods of day and night of Our Lord’s entombment.

Let the great Apostle himself, who labored more than all and followed the law precisely, teach you that knowledge of divine instruction under the law was childish, as though veiled in shadow and dimly perceived. "The law had a shadow of the good things to come," he declared, not the very image of the realities. The shadow pointed toward the substance, and the substance has now arrived in Christ.

This is the explanation of the three periods of day and night of Our Lord’s entombment. It is written “Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights; so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. He who promised fulfilling the prefiguration (type) of Jonah and who understands it accurately, since He was present with Jonah when he was thrown into the deep, and when he was vomited forth from the depth, fulfilled Jonah unfailingly, dwelling in the tomb as long as Jonah (did) in the whale; If you seek a second figure, this is it: At the sixth hour of Friday the Lord was crucified. From then until the ninth there was darkness; Take this from me to be night. Again from the ninth hour; this is again day. Then there is the Friday night, then the Sabbath. The night of the Sabbath is the morning of Sunday, according to the Evangelist who states “When it dawned on the first day of the week” If you wish to learn a third reason, (it is) as follows. On the Friday the Lord gave up His spirit; this is one day. He passed the whole of the Sabbath in the grave; then there is the night belonging to the Sabbath. When Sunday dawned, He rose from the tomb, and this is day. Since, as you know, from knowing a part the whole is known[16]. For in this way we are accustomed to perform the remembrance of those who die. At whatever hour of the day someone dies, the following day only is omitted, and on the next day from dawn we hold the third day of his (commemoration). You have, I think, the solution to what you were seeking. For if those who fight dishonestly ask for three complete days and nights, reply that, if the emperor was receiving the supplication and petition of those in the mines or in prison and promised to give them release after the third day, and in advance of the set date granted them their freedom, it was rather by his rapidity that he declared the truth (of his intention). The Master, rising more swiftly than He had promised, will appropriately be worshipped by all.

ΥΜΔ'. – ΤΟ ΑΥΤΩ.. Αὐτὸς ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος, ὁ πλεῖον πάντων κοι πιάσας, ὁ τὸν νόμον ἀκριβῶς μετελθών, παιδευσάτω σε, νηπίαν εἶναι ἐν αὐτῷ γνῶσιν τῆς θείας παιδεύ- σεως, ὡς ἐν σκιᾷ κεκαλυμμένην, καὶ ἀμυδρῶς δι- ορωμένην. Σκιὰν εἶχεν ὁ νόμος τῶν μελλόντων ἀγα- θῶν, ἀποφαινόμενος, οὐκ αὐτὴν τὴν εἰκόνα τῶν πρα- γμάτων, ἣν ἐπιστεύθη τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον, πρὸς ἦν οἱ τύποι ἐπέβλεπον. ``` ΘΕΟΦΙΛΩ. Πρὸ βραχέος, ὄρθρου ἔτι ὄντος (ἐκιρνᾶτο γὰρ νύξ τε καὶ ἡὼς) ἐντυχών μοί τις τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἀπήγγελλεν, ὡς πυθόμενοί τινες ελλόγιμοι στειλά-μενόν σε ἀποδημίαν μακρὰν, οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἀρετῆς, οὐδὲ ὥστε σαυτὸν ἢ ἄλλον τινὰ εἰς φιλοσοφίαν ἐναγαγεῖν (ἢ γὰρ ἂν καὶ ἀπεδέξαντο), ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ τοῦ χρηματί-σασθαι, κομιδή σου κατεφρόνησαν, εἰ προῃρημένος C τὸν τῆς νεότητος χρόνον τὰς ἡσυχίας ἄγειν, νῦν ἐπὶ γήρως ἀποδημεῖν ἐπεχείρησας· ὅτε εἰκὸς ἦν σοι, εἰ καὶ πρότερον ἄλλοθί που διέτριβες, οἴκαδε ἐπαν-ήκειν, οὕτως ὑπογυίου σου τῆς τελευτῆς οὔσης. Τοὺς μὲν γὰρ νέους ἐλπὶς εἰς γῆρας ἤξειν βαθύ· οἱ δὲ γεγηρακότες οὐδὲν ἕτερον, ἢ τὸν θάνατον ὀνειροπο-λεῖν δίκαιοι ἂν εἶεν. Ἐγὼ δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν ἀκριβῶς μὴ ἐπιστάμενος, δι᾽ ἣν ἐντεῦθεν ἀπῆρας, οὔτε ἀπελογη-σάμην, οὔτε κατεψηφισάμην, ἀλλ' ἐπηγγειλάμην γράφειν. Αὐτὸς τοίνυν τὸ δέον πράξαι προθυμή-θητι. ΡΛΑ΄. – ΘΕΟΔΩΡΩ Ναυσὶν ἐοικότας εἰκάζειν δεῖ, ἑαυτὸν ἐκμελετῶντας ὑπὲρ τοῦ σφοδροτέρας διαφυγεῖν κακοπραγίας.