My beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord, God and Savior,
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE WAS RISEN! ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ!
CHRIST ‘S GLORIOUS AND SALVIFIC RESURRECTION
After the Resurrection our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appeared to the Myrrh-bearing women and to His Disciples. Some people wondered why Christ did not appear to all the people and especially to His crucifiers and those who denied His Resurrection, to make them believe in Him. However, when a person knows the essence of Orthodox Christian Theology, he/she cannot ask such questions, because he/she knows clearly that Christ’s appearing is never for spectacular reasons and for man’s coercion. God’s MANIFESTATION HAS A DEFINITE PURPOSE AND A DEEP REASON.
In the first place it must be pointed out that Christ does not want to compel anyone to believe. God’s MANIFESTATION TO MAN IS A CRUCIAL POINT IN HIS LIFE. In the next life, at Christ’s Second Coming, EVERYONE WILL SEE HIM, but for those prepared and purified God WILL BE LIGHT, while FOR THE IMPURE HE WILL BE A PUNISHMENT. That will happen also in this case. Therefore IT WAS OUT OF LOVE AND CHARITY THAT GOD DID NOT APPEAR TO THOSE WHO DENIED AND CRUCIFIED HIM.
Christ’s appearance in glory is solely to guide those who have suitably prepared themselves for THEOSIS (DEIFICATION) and GLORIFICATION. The Disciples had been prepared, and that is why Christ said shortly before His Passion: "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you" (John 15:3). For three years the Disciples, hearing the word of God and apprenticed in the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, expelling demons, WENT THROUGH THE PROCESS OF PURIFICATION. So they were fit for theosis (deification) and WERE CAPABLE OF PARTAKING OF THE GRACE OF THE RESURRECTION. But then again, as we shall see later, also by appearing after the Resurrection, He is PREPARING THEM FOR THEIR ENTRY INTO THE HIGH DEGREE OF THEOSIS (DEIFICATION) AND VISION OF GOD WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE AT PENTECOST.
But Christ’s manifestation to His Disciples after the Resurrection did not happen only for them, for we know that all who reach a comparable degree of cure and purification are granted to participate in Christ’s Resurrection and to see the Risen Christ. It is this perspective that we should also look at the case of the Apostle Paul, who has the assurance that the Risen Christ also appeared to him. "Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time" (1 Corinthians 15:8). And it is well known that the Apostle Paul was Jewish zealot at the time of the Resurrection, because he was converted to Christ after Pentecost and was presented with the apparition of the Risen Christ after his Ascension and Pentecost.
In the texts of Holy Scripture eleven appearances of the Risen Christ are presented, of which ten took place during the time between the Resurrection and the Ascension andone after Pentecost. Some of them are described analytically and others are simply listed. Not all described by the Evangelists, that is to say that all eleven are not mentioned in each Gospel separately, some are mentioned by one Evangelist and some by another.
Obviously there were other appearances of the Risen Christ. What Saint Luke says in the Acts of the Apostles is characteristic: "to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during FORTY DAYS and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3). It is natural that this should have been so because He wanted, on the one hand to comfort them, and on the other hand to prepare them for His Ascension, as well AS FOR THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
These appearances of the Risen Christ are reported in the New Testament. However, there are also many other Saints who have been granted to see the Risen Christ. Moreover, the Orthodox Church, WHICH IS THE RISEN BODY OF CHRIST, offers the experiences of the Resurrection. Saint Symeon the New Theologian, referring to the prayer "having seen the Resurrection of Christ WE WORSHIP HOLY JESUS, LORD, THE ONLY SINLESS ONE," teaches THAT WE REFERRING TO THE RESURRECTION WHICH THE DISCIPLES SAW, BUT OF THE RESURRECTION, OR RATHER THE RISEN CHRIST, WHOM WE SEE IN THE CHURCH. We do not say "having believed the resurrection of Christ’ but "HAVING SEEN." Indeed there are many who believe in the Resurrection, but there are also others, be it even a few, who see every hour the Risen Christ brilliant and flashing forth the lightning of immortality and Divinity." For truly the Resurrection of Christ "IS OUR RESURRECTION, WHO LIE ASLEEP BELOW." Thus, some are witnesses of Christ’s Resurrection "from hearing," and other witnesses "from vision." The latter ARE THE TRUE WITNESSES OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION. (Resources: The Feasts of the Lord)
(To be continued)
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in Our Risen Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 