What is the Church opinion on the confirmation of the Abrogation of Jewish Festivals?

By St. Athanasius the Apostolic + We know the significant impact that Passover had on the Jews worldwide before the Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection. Jerusalem would be bustling with those coming to observe Passover. However, when the true Lamb came and was sacrificed as our Passover and was rejected by them, the Jewish symbol was nullified and ended. The Jews who rejected faith in the Lord became wicked. Therefore, it is no wonder that in the letters of Pope Athanasius the Apostolic, during his nearly fifty years of service as Patriarch, he frequently wrote about God’s rejection of the Jews and the wicked, and the eternal abrogation of the Jewish Passover with the coming of the true Lamb and His sacrifice for us. + The Church, by calling its feast “Passover,” declares to all that there is no necessity for Jewish festivals, nor any need for them, as they have ended. Here are brief statements from much of what Athanasius and other Fathers wrote. + Even the ignorant Jews partook of the divine food when they ate the lamb during Passover as a symbol. But due to their lack of understanding of the symbol, they still err to this day because they eat Passover away from the city (Jerusalem), distanced from the truth. + Since Jerusalem has been destroyed, these symbols must also end. Note that with the coming of our Savior, the city has ended, and all the land of the Jews has been destroyed. From the testimony of these matters and what our eyes confirm about these undeniable truths, it is necessary for the symbol to end. + As soon as the crucifixion was completed, the old matters ended. The temple veil was torn (Matthew 27:51), and the Jewish altar was destroyed. Even though the city had not yet been destroyed, the “abomination of desolation” (Matthew 24:15) was preparing to sit in the midst of the temple, bringing Jerusalem and all those old ordinances to their end. + Since that time, we have left behind the age of symbols. We no longer practice those rituals under their shadow but have turned everything to the Lord, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). + When we hear the sacred trumpet call, we do not slaughter an ordinary lamb but the true Lamb who was slain for us—our Lord Jesus Christ, “who was led like a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer is silent” (Isaiah 53:7). + We have been purified by His precious blood, “which speaks better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24), and our feet are shod with the readiness of the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15), carrying in our hands the full armor of God, which was the consolation of the blessed one who said, “Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). In summary, we are prepared in all things, not worried about anything, for the Lord is near, as the blessed Paul said (Philippians 4:5), and our Savior also said, “At an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man comes” (Luke 12:40). + As for us, beloved, what was shadows for us has been fulfilled, and what was literal has been realized. Therefore, we must not look at the feast as a symbol nor go to the earthly Jerusalem to sanctify a Passover lamb. Otherwise, when the time passes, it will be seen that we are doing something inappropriate. But according to the apostles’ command, we must surpass the literal bounds and sing the song of praise. + In anticipation, as we were truly gathered with one another (in Christ), they would approach us and say to our Savior, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” (Matthew 26:17). + Even though historically, Passover was only observed in Jerusalem, when the fullness of time came and the shadows passed away, and the preaching of the gospel spread everywhere, the disciples established the feasts in every place, as if asking the Savior, “Where do You want us to prepare it?” And the Savior, also, turning the letters into spirit, promised them that they would no longer eat the lamb’s flesh but His own flesh, saying, “Take, eat; this is My body and My blood” (Matthew 26:26-28). Thus, being refreshed by this, we indeed, beloved, observe the true Passover. + Then what the prophets spoke of was fulfilled, “I will cause to cease from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp, and this whole land shall be a desolation” (Jeremiah 25:10). All the service of the law ceased for them, and so they will remain forever without a feast. + They no longer observe Passover because how can they? They disobey the law in everything, according to God’s judgments, observing days of sorrow, not happiness. + Since God cursed them for their neglect, He took away from them the true Lamb, the true Passover (since they rejected Him). + The Passover is our feast and is no longer for the Jews, as it has ended for them. The old matters have vanished, and now the month of new matters has come, in which every person must observe the feast, obeying Him who said, “Observe the month of new things and keep the Passover to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 16:1).