The Second Day of Pascha:
Teaching 6
(And We Will Rise Again!)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Teaching 6
(And We Will Rise Again!)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. Jesus Christ is risen! We too will rise, my friends! Have you ever thought about these most joyful words, about this greatest action of God's omnipotence over us? We will rise... There will be a time when our bodies, these very mortal bodies, hidden in the graves, decayed into dust, turned into earth, by the action of the almighty Word of God, will again be transformed from the graves and again united with our souls, separated for a time, for eternal life... We were created for life! We want to live; and we will live in these same bodies of ours, only transformed; we will live forever, forever... What joy, what consolation in these words for us mortals! Why should we, after this, fear death? Why become despondent and despairing at the death of those dear to our hearts?
II. Christ is the beginning of our resurrection, says the Holy Apostle Paul, and is the foundation of our resurrection. Christ in Himself resurrected humanity; He will also resurrect those who sincerely partake of His flesh and blood, who become one with Him in faith and love, who not only figuratively, but actually become members of Him, the one Head of all believers.
a) Christ is risen, and we will rise, my friends! And is it really so incredible? Don't we see enough images of the resurrection in our life here?
That man will rise again and receive his body again, is daily indicated by our falling asleep in the evening and waking up in the morning. Just as we lie down and fall asleep in the evening, and the next day we wake up and rise with the same body; so the dead body will one day, at the resurrection, receive its form and its life again, will awaken from the sleep of death and will live.
Another image of our resurrection is the unbroken succession of day and night. When the day ends and the sun sets, it gradually becomes darker and darker, and at last everything is covered by gloomy night. Darkness and the shadow of death then embrace all nature; mountains and valleys, flowers and trees have disappeared, not a single creature is visible, and everything is as if dead. If in the dark midnight hour one ascends a mountain and looks around, raises one's voice and listens, then no one will respond in the darkness, nothing will stir, everything is asleep, people and animals. But as soon as morning comes, everything becomes visible before the eyes, everything comes to life, and new life reigns everywhere again.
In like manner all the dead lie as if in a deep sleep, covered by the long night of death, so that it seems as if they had all disappeared and been destroyed forever; but the day will come, and they will again awaken from the sleep of death and rise again and appear alive, with body and soul, from Adam to the last dead man.
But the clearest image of our future resurrection is the annual revival of nature in the spring. Winter has come - and all nature seems to have died. The trees stand without leaves and sap, the grass and flowers have died; not a single bird sings in the forest any more, the flies and other insects lie numb in their shelters, while others have turned into pupae in the autumn to die. But then spring comes, new life comes to the dead nature, and everything that seemed dead and perished rises again from its grave. Grass, grains and all vegetation grows again from the earth, flowers appear in their beauty, the trees receive sap, leaves and flowers again; ants, bees, flies and other insects again awaken from their winter sleep and crawl out of their corners. The caterpillars, wrapped in a chrysalis, have left their former covering, have turned into much better creatures - into multi-colored butterflies, and fly in this new form, rising high in the air. Birds fly joyfully with songs from tree to tree, from bush to bush. God arranged all this, of course, for no other purpose than to clearly and vividly present before our eyes our future resurrection.
The grain thrown into the ground in autumn by the hand of the farmer rots, so that in the spring it will come to life again in the fullness and beauty of life. What you sow will not come to life unless it dies, teaches us the truth of the resurrection, and the Holy Apostle Paul likens it to a grain that rots in the ground and then comes to life.
And is he not mad, let us say in the words of the same Holy Apostle, who, even after such clear indications of the truth of the resurrection, even in the lowest, irrational nature, would dare to doubt this greatest and most joyful truth for us? There is no room for doubt!.. Christ is risen, and we will rise again, my friends! And we will certainly rise again with these same bodies, and we will live forever with Christ, insofar as we here on earth live by faith and love, which bind us all into one with Him, our Lord.
b) And how will this greatest miracle of the General Resurrection be accomplished? This is a mystery which it is now impossible to clarify precisely and thoroughly. However, as far as is revealed to us in the sacred books, this is what can be said about it. According to the revelation given to the Holy Prophet Ezekiel, a certain living Spirit will blow upon the dead and scattered bones, and they will come to life and stand on their feet - a very large assembly (Ezek. 37:10). According to the revelation given to Saint John the Theologian, the resurrection of the bodies will be preceded by the sound of angelic trumpets and the voice of the Lord Himself, coming from heaven (John 5:28). From this voice of the Lord, the like of which has not been in the world since its creation, and which will resound in all the ends of the universe, the whole earth will tremble, tombstones will fall, graves will open, dry bones will receive sinews and be clothed with flesh, composed of the same parts into which it decomposed. What was eaten by worms and beasts, birds and fish, what was consumed by fire, turned into air and earth, - all this will be returned, so that not a single hair will be lacking in the present body. Bodies will be united with their souls and will come out of the graves, as if after a deep and prolonged sleep. All people will be resurrected in one instant: Christians, and Jews, and Mohammedans, and pagans will be resurrected; people of all times and generations will be resurrected; both the good and the unkind will be resurrected.
III. After this, expecting with undoubting faith the resurrection of the dead bodies, let us not, my friends, be too sad when we have to accompany the bodies of our relatives and friends to the grave. Is not grieving over buried bodies the same as grieving over the seeds thrown into the ground by the farmer? Let us not, Christians, be like those who have no hope!
Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
