“We celebrate the slaying of death,
the dethronement of hades, and
a new life of eternal renewal.”
Beloved brethren and children in the Lord,
We, your spiritual shepherds, have the habit of
preparing and delivering “Paschal Epistles” during this time of
the Bright and Joyous Resurrection. Many of these may have a deep
meaning and are rich in theological and pastoral technicality, but are
poor in regards to teaching one how to live spiritually and
resurrectionally…
We tend to voice to one another our paschal greeting
without making this greeting apply to our own personal death and
resurrection. And this is because the idea of “co-resurrection with
Christ” is missing within us, even though this is the means whereby
our Savior’s Resurrection lives within us. We are missing within us
the “slaying of the hades of sinfulness” and the immediately
followed “new life of eternal renewal.”
This mystery of the co-resurrection of mankind with
the Risen Christ is the mystery of our salvation. And as a mystery it
cannot be circumscribed, it cannot be analyzed. On the contrary, it
can only be lived. And this way of life means that the kingdom of sin
is shattered within us, the locked gates of hades are broken, and only
then does the light of the Resurrection shine within us. Otherwise, no
matter how much we greet one another with “Christ is Risen,” and
no matter how much we preach with our mouths and lips the response
“Truly He is Risen,” if we yet remain in the tomb of indifference,
evil, pride and lack of repentance, we remain outside of the mystery
of salvation.
In such a manner, although we say with great words,
and although we print fantastic greetings, although we feel an
apparent worldly joy, we do not meet the Risen Christ. On the
contrary, we deny him by our evil actions. We, from the Royal Doors
exclaim “Come receive ye the light, of the unwaning light,” and
you all run to light your candles. And despite all of this, we remain
for the most part in darkness. Because, if by our sinful life we
extinguish the light within us, how overwhelming is the darkness? If
our lips voice “we celebrate the slaying of death” and yet we live
as though we are dead, hopeless and careless towards the spiritual
things, and if we are not moved by the plea of St. Joseph of Arimathea
to ask for the body of Jesus for burial, and if we are not inspired by
the courage of St. Nicodemus and the bravery of the myrrh-bearing
women, and if we remain in the tomb of denial and of faithlessness,
then what use is it for us to say “Christ is Risen?”
How can we work towards our exit from the tomb of
sinfulness? How can we celebrate a true Pascha? Through
co-resurrection! But first we must pass through the road of
co-crucifixion. To walk with Christ towards Golgotha and be lifted up
on the Cross with Him is of great necessity for the achievement of
co-resurrection. And this walking with Christ and being lifted up on
the cross with Him, receives its worth and becomes a reality only
through humility and contrition. Even if we directly deny the Teacher,
there is still a way of returning to the right road and walking with
Him. For, after his third denial of Christ, upon hearing the cock crow
twice, St. Peter “went out, and wept bitterly.”
Only the humiliated and brokenhearted know the road of
repentance and contrition. And only those who have passed through
their own personal Golgotha of humility and martyrdom (which in this
case means repentance), and have reached the empty tomb, live
resurrectionally and are given a foretaste of the inexpressible joy of
eternity. Only those who know Christ in their lives as the “slain
lamb” see him as the conqueror of death, because only they
understand the meaning “He came victorious and that He may
conquer.” ["...and He went forth conquering, and to
conquer." Revelation/Apocalypse; 6:2 KJV]
Beloved brethren, as always, even today the road
towards Golgotha is the road that is directed by the true Church of
Christ. Rather, the Church is the only road towards Golgotha. It is
the only way towards Resurrection. It is the Church of the Cross and
the Resurrection. They who remain as members of the Church, they who
hold unadulterated and uncounterfeited the good Confession (that is,
Orthodoxy, which cannot be understood without Orthopraxy, which is
walking with and being crucified with Christ), only they indeed rise
up to the martyric road of Golgotha, only they really celebrate the
Resurrection, only they are deemed worthy of co-resurrection with
Christ, and only they experience the reality of the Paschal greeting:
“Christ is Risen! – Truly He is Risen!”
Your fervent supplicant before the Risen Lord,
+ Metropolitan Kirykos of Mesogaias and Lavreotikis
Sunday of Pascha, April 6/19, 2009, Athens, Greece.