In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
My beloved, tonight, we celebrate the Feast of All Feasts. We have come to the conclusion of Pascha to witness the risen Lord. My beloved, there is a reason why it is that the Church considers this to be the greatest of all feasts. While the sign of Christianity is the Cross, the joy of Christianity is the resurrection. The hope of our faith is in the resurrection. My beloved, tonight we will greet one another with the words Christ is risen and we will reply to each other in saying Indeed, or, Truly He is risen. This is a testimony of our faith. A Christian is one who believes His Incarnate God conquered death.
While we have heard of holy men from the past raising others from the dead, we have never seen anyone who has the power within Him to conquer death, to defeat this beast that has been tormenting Christianity for so long. My beloved, today the Church is going to pray for the first time, and then repeat it for the next 50 days, the anthem of our orthodoxy: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, giving life or bestowing life to those who are in the tombs. Truly this is the joy of everything that we have been fasting for. This is the reward of our Lenten struggle. This is the outcome of our Pascha: that His light shines in His glorious resurrection.
I thought long about what I would share with you today and I have decided that rather than trying to give you my words, I will give you the words of our forefathers who have said it much better than I could ever.
St. Gregory the Theologian, in his Easter oration on the feast of the Resurrection, he speaks about how it is that we needed a God who was incarnate, a God who becomes human like us, a God who was put to death, so that we can live. He says that we were put to death together in Him, so that we can be cleansed. He speaks about how it is that the Lord was willing to come down, so that we can be lifted up. He says that He allowed Himself to be dishonoured, so that we can be glorified. He died that He might save us. He ascended, so He can pull us up to where He is.
We need to give everything to Him, St. Gregory says, offer the best that we have, offer ourselves entirely. And then he says one of the most beautiful statements in all of Christian writing. He speaks about how it is that a few drops of blood recreate the whole creation. My beloved, truly this is what we believe: that through His blood, through His sacrifice and through His resurrection, He has completely redefined life. He has brought us back to our first estate. He has renewed the goal of humanity where once we had no purpose.
We were just slowly moving towards death. But now, because of His incarnation, His ministry, His baptism, His death, His resurrection, and soon, His Ascension and His sending of the Holy Spirit, all of these things have renewed us. All of these things have offered us a new chance to become truly human.
My beloved, when we speak of being human, what we are really saying is that the standard of humanity is our Lord Christ. He has shown us what it means to be fully alive. This is the glory of God: that we might be able to be truly alive, because He is risen from the dead and has given us life.
St. John Chrysostom, he speaks in a way where he almost mocks death. He says:
''O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen and you are abolished. Christ is risen, (...) the demons are cast out. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life is freed. Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead.'' (St. John Chrysostom)
My beloved, this is what we celebrate. This is what we have been looking forward to. And so, we rejoice with the Church. And so, we greet one another and say: Christ is risen. And we respond to one another with a tremendous amount of joy, of hope, of hearts that are filled with peace and comfort. And we say to each other: Truly He is risen. We confess the risen Lord. We celebrate the risen Lord. And our prayer to Him, today and for the rest of our lives, is: Lord, as you rise, take me with You. Give me new life. Grant me the gift of the resurrection. Recreate me entirely that I may be glorified with you.
Christ is risen, my beloved, truly He is risen. I wish you all a most blessed feast and may the glory of His resurrection shine in your lives today and forever more.
To Him be all glory now and forever and unto the ages of all ages. Amen.