13. See Rom 6:9.
206 SAINT A UGUSTINE - SERMONS with the light, since the refrain is regularly repeated, "there was evening and there was morning, the nth day"; evening including, presumably, the whole night, and morning all the daylight hours—in fact the current Jewish way of reckoning the day.
12. Parasceve is a Greek word meaning "preparation," applied to the day before the sabbath, especially a sabbath which coincided with a feast like the passover, as it did in that year according to the calendar presupposed by the gospel of John; see Jn 19:31. Now it seems that the Latin speaking Jews of North Africa latinized this rather unpronounceable Greek word parasceve into pura cena, and then gave it—or Augustine gave it for them—the more correct sounding form, noun before adjective, of cena pura, literally "the pure supper." He refers to this again in his Homilies on the Gospel of John 120, 5.
13. See Rom 6:9.
SERMON 222
AT THE EASTER VIGIL
Date: about 4051
Dispelling the darkness
While the solemn celebration of this holy night is urging you, dearly beloved, to keep awake and pray, my customary annual address is also owed to you, so that the voice of the shepherd2 too may alert the Lord's flock against the opposing and envious powers and rulers of darkness, as against the wild beasts of the night. For there is no struggle for us againstflesh and blood, as the apostle says; that is, against human beings weakened by their mortal bodies; but against principalities and powers, and the rulers of the world of this darkness, against spiritual things of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12). That, certainly, is no reason why you should suppose that the devil and his angels, whom the apostle indicates by these words, are the rulers of this world about which it is written, And the world was made through him (Jn 1:10). Yes, he called them rulers of the world; but in case anyone should understand by this the world, which in several places in the scriptures is called by the name of heaven and earth, he immediately added, as if explaining what he meant, of this darkness, that is, of unbelievers. That's why he has already said to the faithful, You were once upon a time darkness, but now light in the Lord (Eph 5:8).
So there are these spiritual things of wickedness in the heavenly places; not where the stars shine in their courses, and the holy angels have their abode; but in the foggy dwelling of this lowest atmosphere where the clouds are con¬ densed—and yet it is written, who covers heaven with clouds (Ps 147:8); where also the birds fly about, and yet they are called the birds of heaven (Ps 50:11). So it's in these heavenly places, not in that loftier tranquillity of the heavens,3 that these most wicked spirits lurk, against whom we are booked to struggle; in order that after beating the bad angels, we may enjoy that prize which will make us the companions of the good angels for an imperishable eternity. Thus in another place the same apostle designates the devil's dark and dingy princedom, where he says, According to the spirit of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, who is now at work in the children of unbelief (Eph 2:2). So the spirit of this world here is the same as the rulers of the world in that other