Isaiah the Prophet also says, "And they shall wish that they had been burned with fire; for unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, whose government is upon His shoulders, and His name is called Angel of Great Counsel. For I will bring peace upon the rulers, against peace and health to Him. Great is His rule, and of His peace there is no end, upon the throne of David and upon His Kingdom, to guide and to uphold with righteousness and judgment, from this time forth and forever" (Isaiah 9:5ff).

Lenten abstinence gives us the saving self-dissatisfaction of the Publican (St. Luke 18:10-13). Such is the function of the hunger and the tiredness: to make us 'poor in spirit', aware of our helplessness and of our dependence on God's aid.

So then, the Father is Lord, and the Son is Lord; the Father is God and the Son is God; for He who is begotten of God is God. According to the essence and power of His being, there is shown to be one God. Yet at the same time, as demonstrated by the economy of our redemption, there is both Father and Son. Because the Father of all is invisible and inaccessible to created beings, it is through the Son that those who are to draw near to God gain access to the Father (cf. Ephesians 2:18; 3:12).

We waited, and at last our expectations were fulfilled,' writes the Serbian Bishop Nikolai of Ochrid, describing the Easter (Pascha) service at Jerusalem. 'When the Patriarch sang "Christ is risen", a heavy burden fell from our souls. We felt as if we also had been raised from the dead. All at once, from all around, the same cry resounded like the noise of many waters. "Christ is risen" sang the Greeks, the Russians, the Arabs, the Serbs, the Copts, the Armenians, the Ethiopians--one after another, each in his own tongue, in his own melody...Coming out from the service at dawn, we began to regard everything in the light of the glory of Christ's Resurrection, and all appeared different from what it had yesterday; everything seemed better, more expressive, more glorious. Only in the Light of the Resurrection does life receive meaning.'

His forerunner was Saint John the Baptist who prepared the people, getting them ready to receive the Logos/Word of Life. Saint John declared that Jesus was The Christ, on Whom the Spirit of God, united with His body, rested (cf. Isaiah 11:1; St. John 1:32 f).

The sin which came by the tree (Genesis 3:6) was undone by the tree of obedience to God when the Son of man was nailed to the tree. There He overcame the knowledge of evil and brought in the knowledge of good. Evil is disobedience to God, and good is obedience to God.