As the Octave of Easter draws to a close, the Church traditionally celebrated this day—Sabbato in Albis—as the final day for the newly baptized to lay aside their white garments, the visible sign of their new life in Christ. Today’s readings, 1 Peter 2:1–10 and John 20:1–9, together with the wisdom of the Fathers, lead us into a profound meditation on what it means to live as a “new creation” after the resurrection.
A Chosen Race, a Royal Priesthood
Saint Peter exhorts the newly baptized (and us with them):
“Lay aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings” (1 Pet 2:1).
The language is urgent. To put on Christ in Baptism requires putting off the old man, the old sins that deform the soul. As Saint Cyril of Jerusalem taught the neophytes:
“Having put off the old man with his works, O ye who have been baptized into Christ, put on the new man, who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him.”
(Catechetical Lectures, III, 3)
The white garments worn by the baptized symbolize this rebirth. But the change is not merely external; it must penetrate to the depths of the heart.
Peter continues, calling Christians “living stones” being built into a spiritual house. He identifies the faithful with the language once reserved for Israel: “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Pet 2:9). Saint Augustine beautifully comments:
“Every Christian who possesses charity is made part of the building of God, a living stone, not dead; and he becomes a spiritual temple for God.”
(Tractate on the Gospel of John, 10.9)
The new Christians are not mere individuals scattered across the world; they are stones fitted together into the Body of Christ. Their lives must be luminous, as Peter commands, showing forth the praises of Him who has called them “out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
The Empty Tomb and the Beloved Disciple
The Gospel of John recounts the moment of discovery: the stone rolled away, the burial cloths neatly folded. Mary Magdalene runs in haste to Peter and the beloved disciple, and they, too, run to the tomb.
John tells us something important: “He saw and believed.” (John 20:8)
What did he believe? That Jesus was no longer dead but risen, though “they did not yet understand the Scripture” (John 20:9).
Saint Gregory the Great explains this moment with pastoral tenderness:
“He saw the linen cloths laid apart; he saw and he believed that He was not stolen away but had risen, since he could not have been taken away naked.”
(Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 22)
The beloved disciple’s faith arises not merely from sight, but from love. It is love that makes the eyes of faith clear and keen.
From the Font to the Tomb
On Sabbato in Albis, the neophytes remove their baptismal garments, but the change of heart must remain forever. Their journey is from the font to the empty tomb—from the death of sin to the life of Christ. As Saint Leo the Great proclaims:
“Christian, recognize your dignity, and, having been made a partaker of the divine nature, do not return to your former baseness by a life unworthy of that dignity.”
(Sermon 21 on the Nativity)
We, too, are urged to stand firm in the light of the Resurrection. Baptized into Christ’s death, we must live His risen life, offering ourselves as spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God. Sabbato in Albis is not an end, but a beginning—the beginning of a life illuminated by the Risen Lord, destined to proclaim His marvelous light in every thought, word, and deed.
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, You have called us from the darkness of sin into the light of Your Resurrection. Grant that, clothed in the white garment of grace, we may walk as children of the light all our days, and come at last to the eternal Pasch. Amen.