Mission Monthly – May 1998

“We saw what disappointment the disciples experienced after the crucifixion. We saw the fear and terror that seized them; but then suddenly [all was] changed. Hope replaced disappointment. Terror became manliness. Fear and trembling became unshakable conviction… We ask, 'What was it that changed them? What gave them wings to fly everywhere and preach the Gospel of salvation?' The event that brought about this drastic change was the Lord's Resurrection. They saw it. They heard it. They felt afresh all the magnificence of His divine presence. They received the priceless gifts of the Resurrection: blessing, peace and joy… The revolution, the holiest revolution ever seen, began along the shore of Galilee… When the crucifixion made it seem like all was over, they received terrific power from the Resurrection of the Lord.”

Bishop AUGOUSTINOS of Florina, Greece

At sundown on the eve of Saturday of Lazarus, Great Lent comes to a close and the unique life of Holy Week begins. There is a certain sadness at the end of Lent. We say goodbye to its beauty, holiness, sacrifice and quietness which has somehow (despite our possible resistance) taken on a life of its own. Whether or not one has been “successful” with the Lenten discipline, the reality is that two months have passed and a major portion of our year has been dedicated to God, to His deep and abiding love for us and to His desire for nothing less than total and complete reconciliation with His creation.

By grace our sadness is compounded as we think of the events that lay ahead. Remembering the ill-treated Saviour seemingly shut down by the conspiracy and humiliation of the Cross, the murderous impiety of the Jews, the deceitful self-importance and greed of His friend Judas Iscariot, the political cowardice of Pontius Pilate, the abuse of the Roman soldiers, the fearful denial and abandonment of His closest friends and even the apparent forsaking of Christ by the Father. Is it any wonder that after the crucifixion the disciples were seized with fear… disappointment… paralysis? Nothing could have or should have made sense. Then, at the stroke of midnight in the saturated darkness of this world's longest night, a single flame announces the arrival of Holy Pascha and the Church exclaims: “Come ye and receive light from the unwaning Light; and glorify Christ, Who has risen from the dead.” and by grace we worship in complete love and perfect attention “the light shin[ing] in the darkness, [because] the darkness has not overcome it (John 1.5).”

It is not hard to imagine the bitter interruption caused by God's thunderous footsteps from the bewildered tomb, turning Hades' frenzied celebration into groans of desperation, “Would that I had not received Him who was born of Mary, for he came to me and broke my power; He shattered the gates of brass and God has raised up the souls, which before I had held…”(Vespers, Holy Saturday Morning). Nor is it hard to imagine the reverse, the “sudden change” in the Apostles who, once initiated into the magnificence of His divine [resurrected] presence, “with great power gave their testimony to the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was with them (Acts 4.33).”

We do not merely remember or reenact the death and Resurrection of Christ, rather we enter into the eternal, once-for-all Sacrifice and Triumph of God and our participation in it. The only question that remains is how we will respond to our own death and resurrection with Christ in the waters of Holy Baptism. By God's grace and our humility and obedience, the authority of Christ's Resurrection will be manifest in our lives just as it was in the lives of the Holy Apostles. And by God's grace we will proclaim not just with our lips but with all our heart, soul, body and mind: “Christ is Risen! Truly He Is Risen!”