My beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN!
The certainty of the truth of the resurrection and the importance of the belief in the resurrection were expressed by the Holy Apostle Paul in the following words: "If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen; and if Christ is not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: Whom He 2raised not up, if so be that the dead risen not….But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept…For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" [1 Corinthians 15:13-15, 22).
However, there is no doubt that the appearance or form of the resurrected righteous will be different from that of resurrected sinners: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father–are words spoken by the Lord only of the righteous (Matthew 13:43). "Some will resemble light, and others darkness," reflects Saint Ephraim the Syrian in this passage (Homily "On the Fear of God and the Last Judgment").
From the word of God one must conclude that THE RESURRECTED BODIES WILL BE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME ONE THAT BELONGED TO THEIR SOULS IN THIS EARTHLY LIFE: "THIS corruptible must put on incorruption, and THIS mortal must put on immortality" [1 Corinthians 15:53]. But at teh same time they will be TRANSFIGURED, and first of all, THE BODIES OF THE RIGHTEOUS WILL BE INCORRUPT AND IMMORTAL, AS IS EVIDENT FROM THE SAME WORDS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE. THEY WILL BE COMPLETELY FREE FROM WEAKNESS AND FROM THE INFIRMITIES OF THE PRESENT LIFE. THEY WILL BE SPIRITUAL, HEAVENLY, NOT HAVING EARTHLY, BODILY NEEDS. LIFE AFTER THE RESURRECTION WILL BE LIKE THE LIFE OF THE FLESHLESS SPIRITS, THE ANGELS, ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD (Luke 20:36). As for sinners, their bodies also without any doubt will rie in a new form, but while receiving an incorrupt and spiritual nature, at the same time they will express in themselves the condition of their souls..
With the aim of making faith in the future transfiguration of bodies, the Holy Apostle compares the future resurrection with sowing, a symbol of resurrection given by nature: "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 see its own body" [1 Corinthians 15:35-38].
With the same aim the Holy Fathers of the Church have indicated that in the world in general NOTHING IS ANNIHILATED AND DISAPPEARS, AND THAT GOD IS POWERFUL TO RESTORE THAT WHICH HE HIMSELF HAS CREATED. Turning to nature, they found in its similarities to the resurrection, such as the sprouting plants from a seed which is thrown in the earth and rots away; the yearly renewal of nature is springtime; the RENEWAL OF THE DAY; THE AWAKENING FROM SLEEP; THE ORIGINAL FORMATION OF MAN FROM THE DUST OF THE EARTH; AND OTHER MANIFESTATIONS.
THE UNIVERSAL RESURRECTION and the events that follow after it are realities which we are incapable of representing fully with our imagination, since we have never experienced them in their authentic future form; nor can we fully understand them with our rational thought, nor resolve those numerous questions which arise before the curious mind in connection with them. Therefore, both these questions themselves and those personal conceptions which have been expressed in answer to them–often in various forms–in the writings of the Holy Fathers and teachers of the Church, do not enter immediately into the subject of dogmatic theology, the duty of which is to sketch the precise truths of faith founded upon Holy Scripture.
THE HERESY OF CHILIASM
Very widespread at the present time is the teaching about a thousand-year kingdom of Christ on earth before the Universal or Last Judgment; this teaching is known by the name of "CHILIASM" (from the Greek CHILIASMOS, a thousand years)…Chiliastic views were spread in antiquity chiefly among heretics. In more recent times these views were resurrected in the Protestant sects. In this teaching there are supposed to be two future judgments, one of the resurrected righteous ones, and then a second, universal one; there are two future resurrections, first one of the righteous, and then another of sinners; there are two future comings of the Savior in glory; there is a future, purely earthly–even though blessed–reign of Christ with the righteous ones as a definite historical epoch…
It is not difficult to see the error of the chiliastic interpretation of the 20th chapter of the Apocalypse (Revelation). Parallel passages in Sacred Scripture clearly indicate that the "first resurrection" SIGNIFIES SPIRITUAL REBIRTH INTO ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST THROUGH BAPTISM, A RESURRECTION THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST, ACCORDING TO THE WORDS, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" [Ephesians 5:14] "Ye are risen with Christ," we read many times in the Apostles (Colossians 3:1 and 2:12; Ephesians 2:5-6). Proceeding from this, by the THOUSAND-YEAR REIGN one must understand the period of time from the very beginning of the Kingdom of Grace of the Church of Christ and in particular of the Triumphant Church of heaven, until the end of the world. The Church which is Militant upon earth in essence also is triumphant in the victory performed by the Savior, but it is still undergoing battle with the "prince of this world," a battle which will end WITH THE DEFEAT OF SATAN AND THE FINAL CASTING OF HIM INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE.
The "second death" is the JUDGMENT OF SINNERS at the Last Judgment. It will not touch those who "have part in the first resurrection" (Revelation 20:6); this means that those who are spiritually reborn in Christ and purified by the Grace of God in the Church WILL NOT BE SUBJECTED TO JUDGMENT, BUT WILL ENTER INTO THE BLESSED LIFE OF THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST.
The Second Ecumenical Synod (381 A.D.), IN CONDEMNING ALL THE HERESIES OF APOLLINARIUS, CONDEMNED ALSO HIS TEACHING OF THE THOUSAND-YEAR REIGN OF CHRIST AND INTRODUCED ALSO HIS TEACHING OF THE THOUSAND-YEAR REIGN OF CHRIST AND INTRODUCED INTO THE VERY SYMBOL OF FAITH (CREED) THE WORDS CONCERNING CHRIST: "AND HIS KINGDOM WILL HAVE NO END"–IT BECAME NO LONGER PERMISSIBLE AT ALL FOR AN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN TO HOLD THESE OPINIONS. [Resources: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology]
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine, Glorious and Redeeming Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 