“TODAY ALL CREATION IS GLAD AND REJOICES, FOR CHRIST HAS RISEN!”

My beloved spiritual brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord Jesus Christ,

CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

CHRIST IS RISEN!

TRULY HE IS RISEN!

GLORY TO HIS THIRD-DAY RESURRECTION.

WE WORSHIP HIS THRID-DAY RESURRECTION.

Christ is risen from dead, trampling Death by
death, and bestowing life to those in the tombs.

"It is the Day of the Resurrection! Let us shine forth in
splendor for the Festival, and embrace one another. Let
us say, "O brethren, even to those, who do not love us,
let us forgive all things in the Resurrection, and thus
let us cry aloud: "Christ is risen from the dead, by death
trampling on Death, and bestowing life to those in the
tombs."

"This day, which the Lord has made; we shall rejoice,
and be glad in it.

A Pascha of delight, a Pascha, the Lord’s Pascha; an
all-venerable Pascha has dawned for us; a Pascha in
which, let us embrace one another with joy, Oh Pascha,
ransom from sorrow! For from the Tomb today, as from
a bridal chamber. Christ has shone forth, and filled the
women with joy, saying "Proclaim it to the Apostles."

"The Angels in Heaven praise Your Resurrection, O
Christ, Savior. Make us also here on earth worthy, to
glorify You with pure hearts."

"Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus,
Who alone is without sin. We venerate Your Cross, O Christ, and we praise and
glorify Your Holy Resurrection. For You are our God, and we know no other,
except You, and we call on Your Name. Come, all you faithful, let us worship
Christ’s Holy Resurrection; for lo, through the Cross, joy has come to the whole
world. For, at all times, blessing the Lord, we praise His Resurrection. Having
endured the Cross for us, He destroyed Death by death."

Saint Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthian Christians explains succinctly the great significance of our Lord and Savior’s resurrection as follows:

"Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up–if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

"But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ ALL BE MADE ALIVE. But each one in his own order: Christ is the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming…

"But someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?’ Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain–perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star IN GLORY. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, IT IS RAISED IN INCORRUPTION. It is sown A NATURAL BODY, IT IS RAISED A SPIRITUAL BODY. THERE IS A NATURAL BODY, AND THERE IS A SPIRITUAL BODY…Now, this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood CANNOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: WE SHALL NOT ALL SLEEP, BUT WE SHALL ALL BE CHANGED– IN A MOMENT, IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE, AT THE LAST TRUMPET. FOR THE TRUMPET WILL SOUND, AND THE DEAD WILL BE RAISED INCORRUPTIBLE, AND WE SHALL BE CHANGED. FOR THIS, CORRUPTIBLE MUST PUT ON INCORRUPTION, AND THIS MORTAL MUST PUT ON IMMORTALITY. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall it be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory.

"O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:12-55)

Overview: All bodily imperfections and infirmities will be healed in the resurrection. A more perfect body is to be constructed, one that is no longer flesh and blood but IMMORTAL and INDISTRUCTIBLE. The resurrection of the human body transcends the power of nature. According to Saint John Chrysostom, "after the resurrection the Spirit will dwell permanently in the righteous."

What is Christianity without THE RESURRECTION, both Christ’s and ours? His death does us no good without it. What use is forgiveness if we remain dead? On Holy Pascha morning Orthodox Christians all over the world chant, "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life." The spiritual body is understood as a body so subject to spirit that it may be suited to the celestial habitation. If you remain in what is of the earth, you will be turned away in the end. You must be changed yourself, you must converted, you must be made "heavenly." "The Lord Who was heavenly became earthly that He might make heavenly those were earthly. From IMMORTAL He became mortal by taking the form of a servant, not by changing the nature of the Lord, that He might make IMMORTAL THOSE WHO WERE MORTAL BY IMPARTING THE GRACE OF THE LORD, not by retaining the offense of the servant." Likewise, "At the sound of the trumpet our vision will be clear and our joy will be full. God has made the end of life here THE BEGINNING OF A TRUE LIFE FOR US. While THE IDENTICAL BODY IS RAISED, IT WILL BE TRANSFORMED BY THE PUTTING ON OF INCORRUPTION, AS IRON EXPOSED TO THE FIRE IS MADE INCADENSCENT. What has been mortal will be clad in immortality. The MASCULINE and the FEMININE SEXES WILL REMAIN JUST AS THEIR BODIES WERE CREATED. The resurrected persons will be blessed and happy. Death no longer exists in this resurrected condition where there is no enticements to sin, and WE ARE MADE YOUNG BY ETERNAL INCORRUPTIBILITY. We are no longer slaves to the law through fear, but friends through love."

The Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is "THE FOUNDATION AND THE CROWN OF OUR ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN FAITH. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the first, more 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 the death of Christ on the Cross Our Redemption was accomplished, so by His Resurrection "ETERNAL LIFE WAS GIVEN US." Therefore, the Resurrection of Our Lord is the object of the Church’s constant triumph, it’s unceasing rejoicing which reaches its summit in the Great 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 Jesus 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; c) the sending
down of the Holy Spirit and the creation of the Church of Christ on earth.

Saint John Chrysostom states: "Hell was taken over 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." 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. 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…". After this, death will be utterly annihilated. The "last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26). "Christ ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things" (Ephesians 4:10).

"When the women with Mary had come before dawn,
and they found that the stone had been rolled away from
the sepulchre, they heard from the Angel, ‘Why do you
seek among the dead, as a mortal man, the One Who exists
in Everlasting Light? See the grave clothes in the sepulchre.
Run and proclaim to the world that the Lord has risen and
put death to death; for He is the Son of God Who saves the
human race."

"Your tomb was shone forth to be more
beautiful than Paradise and by far more splendid
than any king’s royal chamber, for it hosted Life.
It is the Source of our resurrection, O Christ, for
You rose from it."

CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

_____________________

"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"

– Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in Our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George