My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.
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THE DIVINE POWER OF THE RISEN AND ASCENDED LORD CHRIST
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"In the Lives of the Saints it is clearly and obviously demonstrated: There is no spiritual death from which one cannot be resurrected by the Divine power of the Risen and Ascended Lord Christ; there is no torment, there is no misfortune, there is no misery, there is no suffering which the Lord will not change gradually or all at once into quiet, compunctionate joy because of faith in Him.
And again there are countless soul-stirring examples of how a sinner becomes a righteous man in the lives of the Saints: how a thief, a fornicator, a drunkard, a sensualist, a murderer, and adulterer becomes a holy man--there are many, many examples of this in the Lives of the Saints; how a selfish, egotistical, unbelieving, atheistic, proud, avaricious, lustful, evil, wicked, depraved, angry, spiteful, quarrelsome, malicious, envious, malevolent, boastful, vainglorious, unmerciful, gluttonous man becomes a man of God--there are many, many examples of this in the Lives of the Saints.
By the same token in the Lives of the Saints there are very many marvelous examples of how a youth becomes a holy youth, a maiden becomes a holy maiden, an old man becomes a holy old man, how an old woman becomes a holy old woman, how a child becomes a holy child, how parents become holy parents, how a son becomes holy son; how a daughter becomes a holy daughter, how a family becomes a holy family, how a priest becomes a holy priest, how a bishop becomes a holy bishop, how a shepherd becomes a holy shepherd, how a peasant becomes a holy peasant, how an emperor becomes a holy emperor, how a cowherd becomes a holy cowherd, how a worker becomes a holy worker, how a judge becomes a holy judge, how a teacher becomes a holy teacher, how an instructor becomes a holy instructor, how a soldier becomes a holy soldier, how an officer becomes a holy officer, how a ruler becomes a holy ruler, how a scribe becomes a holy scribe, how a merchant becomes a holy merchant, how a monk becomes a holy monk, how an architect becomes a holy architect, how a doctor becomes a holy doctor, how a tax-collector becomes a holy tax collector, how a pupil becomes a holy pupil, how an artisan becomes a holy artisan, how a philosopher becomes a holy philosopher, how a scientist becomes a holy scientist, how a statesman becomes a holy statesman, how a minister becomes a holy minister, how a poor man becomes a holy poor man, how a rich man becomes a holy rich man, how a slave becomes a holy slave, how a master becomes a holy mast, how a married couple becomes a holy married couple, how an author becomes a holy author, how an artist becomes a holy artist..." (Saint Justin Popovich).
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST: THE SAVING FRUITS OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is "the foundation and the crown of our Orthodox Christian Faith. The Resurrection of Christ is the first, most important, great Truth, with the proclamation of which the Holy Apostles began their preaching of the Gospel after the descent of the Holy Spirit. Just as by the death of Christ on the Cross our Redemption was accomplished, so by His Resurrection "eternal life was given to us." Therefore, the Resurrection of Christ is the object of the Church's constant triumph, its unceasing rejoicing, which reaches its summit in the Feast of the Holy Christian Pascha--"Today all creation is glad and rejoices, for Christ has risen" (Canon of Pascha, Canticle 9).
The saving fruits of the Resurrection of Christ are:
a) the victory over hell and death; b) the blessedness of the Saints in heaven and the beginning of the existence of the Heavenly Church (The Church Triumphant); c) the sending down of the Holy Spirit and the creation of the Church (The Church Militant) of Christ on earth.
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THE VICTORY OVER HELL AND DEATH
Human existence after the loss of Paradise has two forms: a) the earthly, bodily life; and b) the life after death.
Earthly life ends with the death of the body. The soul preserves its existence after bodily death also, but the condition after death, according to the word of God and the teaching of the Holy Fathers of the Church, is diverse. Until the coming to earth of the Son of God, and until the His Resurrection from the dead, the souls of the dead were in a condition of rejection, being far away from God, in darkness, in hell, in the underworld (the Hebrew "Sheol," Genesis 37:35, Septuagint). To be in hell was like a spiritual death, as is expressed in the words of the Old Testament Psalm, "In Hades who will confess Thee?" (Psalm 6:6). In hell there were imprisoned also the souls of the Old Testament righteous ones. These righteous ones live on earth with faith in the coming Savior, as the Apostle Paul explains in the 11th chapter of his Epistle (Letter) to the Hebrews, and after death they languished in expectation of their redemption and deliverance. Thus it continued until the Resurrection of Christ, until the coming of the New Testament.: "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better things for us, that they without us should not be made perfect" (Hebrews 11:39-40). Our deliverance was also their deliverance.
Christ, after His death on the Cross, descended in His soul and in His Divinity into hell, at the same time that His body remained in the grave. He preached salvation to the captives of hell and brought up from there all the Old Testament righteous ones into the bright mansions of the Kingdom of Heaven. Concerning this raising up of the righteous ones from hell, we read in the Epistle (Letter) of Saint Peter: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison" (I Peter 3:18-19). And in the same place we read further: "For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit" (I Peter 4:6). Saint Paul speaks of the same thing: quoting the verse of the Psalm, "When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men," the Apostle continues: "Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things" (Eph. 4:8-10).
To use the words of Saint John Chrysostom, "Hell was taken captive by the Lord Who descended into it. It was laid waste, it was mocked, it was put to death, it was overthrown, it was bound" (Homily on Pascha).
With the destruction of the bolts of hell, that is, the inescapability of hell, the power of death also was annihilated. First of all, death for righteous men became only a transition from the world below to the world above, to a better life, to life in the light of the kingdom of God; secondly, bodily death itself became only a temporary phenomenon, for by the Resurrection of Christ the way to the General Resurrection was opened to us. "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept" (I Cor. 15:20). The Resurrection of Christ is the pledge of our resurrection: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; but every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits: afterward they that are Christ's at His coming" (I Cor. 15:22-23). After this death will be utterly annihilated. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (I Cor. 15:26).
The troparion (hymn) of Holy Pascha proclaims to us with special joy the victory over hell and death: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life." "Christ ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things" (Ephesians 4:10). (Source: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Father Michael Pomazansky)
(To be continued)
TO ALL OF YOU, FROM ALL OF US, KALI ANASTASI! A GLORIOUS RESURRECTION!
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George