Christ is risen!

Leah

Mikhail Nesterov The Empty Tomb (1889)

Verily, the Women came at early dawn to Thy tomb, O Christ, but they found not Thy body, precious to them. And as they were perplexed, behold there stood among them those who were in shining clothes who said to them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He hath risen as He foretold. Why have ye forgotten His words? And when they were assured by their saying, they preached to the Disciples the things seen. But their glad tidings were received with ridicule; for they were still without understanding. But Peter hastened to behold, and glorified Thy wonders in himself.

He [Christ] arose from the dead and mounted up to the heights of heaven. When the Lord had clothed himself with humanity, and had suffered for the sake of the sufferer, and had been bound for the sake of the imprisoned, and had been judged for the sake of the condemned, and buried for the sake of the one who was buried, he rose up from the dead, and cried aloud with this voice: Who is he who contends with me? Let him stand in opposition to me. I set the condemned man free; I gave the dead man life; I raised up the one who had been entombed.

Who is my opponent? I, he says, am the Christ. I am the one who destroyed death, and triumphed over the enemy, and trampled Hades under foot, and bound the strong one, and carried off man to the heights of heaven, I, he says, am the Christ.

Therefore, come, all families of men, you who have been befouled with sins, and receive forgiveness for your sins. I am your forgiveness, I am the passover of your salvation, I am the lamb which was sacrificed for you, I am your ransom, I am your light, I am your saviour, I am your resurrection, I am your king, I am leading you up to the heights of heaven, I will show you the eternal Father, I will raise you up by my right hand.

This is the one who made the heavens and the earth, and who in the beginning created man, who was proclaimed through the law and prophets, who became human via the virgin, who was hanged upon a tree, who was buried in the earth, who was resurrected from the dead, and who ascended to the heights of heaven, who sits at the right hand of the Father, who has authority to judge and to save everything, through whom the Father created everything from the beginning of the world to the end of the age.

This is the alpha and the omega. This is the beginning and the end–an indescribable beginning and an incomprehensible end. This is the Christ. This is the king. This is Jesus. This is the general. This is the Lord. This is the one who rose up from the dead. This is the one who sits at the right hand of the Father. He bears the Father and is borne by the Father, to whom be the glory and the power forever. Amen.

St. Melito of Sardis, On Pascha

Christ is risen! Indeed He is Risen!

Ilya Repin’s- Golgotha (1869)

“The earth quaked, rocks were split” (St. Matthew 27:51).

O, what a terrible reproach against mankind! Even dead nature recognized Him Whom men were unable to recognize. All mute things trembled and began to protest, each in its own way and in its own language. The mute earth quakes–that is its language. The stones split apart–that is their language. The sun withholds its light–that is its language. All of creation in its own way protested. For all of creation is submissive to Him, as it was to Adam at one time in Paradise, because all of creation recognizes Him as it did Adam in Paradise. How is it that irrational creation knew Him and was obedient to Him, we do not know. It is some kind of inner instinct of irrational creation, which came to them from the word of God, by which they were created. That instinct of irrational creation is more valuable than the mind of man when darkened by sin. Of all the things which are in existence, nothing is more blind than the mind of man when darkened by sin. Not only does he not see what was created to be seen, rather, he sees that which is contrary to being, contrary to God, and contrary to the truth. These are the degrees of the blindness; beneath blindness; these are numbers below zero. This is man of lower creation. For when the priests of God in Jerusalem did not recognize their God, the storms and winds recognized Him; vegetation and animals recognized Him; the seas, the rivers, the earth, the stones, the stars, the sun and even the demons recognized Him. O what kind of shame it is for mankind!

The earth quaked, the rocks split, the sun darkened, as much in anger as in sorrow. All creation grieved over the pain of the Son of God, in Whose pain the priests in Jerusalem rejoiced. Protests and sorrow and fear! The whole of creation was frightened at the death of Him Who cried to them arise from nothing and rejoice in your being. As though it wanted to say: with whom do we remain and who will now uphold us when the Almighty gives up the Spirit?

O brethren, let us be ashamed of this protest, these sorrows and this fear of the mutes of creation! With repentance let us cry out to the Lord, the Victor: forgive, O Compassionate Lord, for indeed, whenever we sin and offend You, we do not know what we are doing.

The Prologue from Ohrid

Thousands of people witnessed the great miracle in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, as the Holy Fire descended and lit the candles of the faithful, Interfax reported at 14:26 today Jerusalem time . The Holy Fire appeared in the altar as Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem prayed, as always miraculously happens on Holy Saturday, the eve of the feast of Christ’s Resurrection—Pascha.

After the flame’s descent, the Patriarch passed it along to the worshippers, who lit their bunches of 33 candles. This number represents the 33 years of Christ’s earthly life.

Pilgrims “washed” their faces and heads with the flame, and as every year, received no burns. The faithful lit their oil lamps with the fire to take it to their homes.

The miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire was preceded by a complex ceremony: The doors of the altar—a small chapel which contains Christ’s tomb—was sealed with a large wax seal as a sign that the inspection has been completed and nothing was found within that would enable the Patriarch to light a candle on his own.

By the time the fire descended, the church was filled to over capacity. RIA Novosti reported that there were about 10,000 in the church and 10,000 more in the courtyard outside it.This included members of the Orthodox Arab population, as well as pilgrims from many different countries. Orthodox Christians from the former Soviet bloc countries, Greece, and Cypress traditionally comprise the majority.

Right after the seal was placed on the Sepulcher the young Orthodox Arabs ran into the church as they do every year, standing on each others’ shoulders and asking the Theotokos and the Lord to send down the fire, shouting, “Our faith is the right faith, our faith is the Orthodox faith!”

Not long before Patriarch Theophilos arrived, the seal was removed from the doors of the Sepulcher, and a large oil lamp and 33 candles were brought in. Then the Patriarch entered the altar, and all waited for the great event.

The Holy Fire will be brought to various Orthodox Churches in Russia, as well as to Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, and other countries.

The Holy Fire was first described by a Russian monk, Daniel, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the early eighth century. “And when the ninth hour came and they began to sing the entrance hymn, ‘We sing to the Lord’, then suddenly a great cloud came from the east and hung over the open roof of that church, and a light rain fell over the Lord’s Sepulcher and drenched us well who were standing on the Tomb. Then suddenly the Holy Light shone in the Holy Sepulcher: a terrible and bright flash came forth from the Holy Tomb of the Lord,” he wrote.

hat tip: pravoslavie

by Nektaria Karantzi

Jean Georges Beraud- Deposition-du-Christ 1892