Blessed and chosen and people of the Lord,
Today is a very important day for the Orthodox Church and, in fact, it is the transition between Great Thursday and Pascha Sunday, between the day on which Christ was crucified and died on the Cross and the day of the Resurrection, which we will celebrate the day after tomorrow and celebrate with “Christ is Risen.”
However, today is not simply a day of mourning, but it is also a day of joy, because the human nature of Christ died on the Cross, the soul of Christ was separated from the body, but the soul together with the Divinity descended into Hades and liberated all those who believed in Him; and the Divinity together with the body remained in the tomb and this body was incorruptible. This is what the Epitaphios presents to us when we come to meet the Epitaphios as we do, because the Kouvouklion is not a tomb that contains a dead person, but it contains the God-man Christ, the living Christ. It is very characteristic that, when the Myrrhbearing women went to the tomb to anoint the body of Christ with myrrh, then the angels said: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? For He has risen, He is not here” (Luke 24:5). We do not have a dead God. The “god” of metaphysics, of a certain philosophy in the West, indeed died, that is, the god who died is the god of metaphysics. Our God, on the other hand, is alive.
Today is a very important day for the Orthodox Church and, in fact, it is the transition between Great Thursday and Pascha Sunday, between the day on which Christ was crucified and died on the Cross and the day of the Resurrection, which we will celebrate the day after tomorrow and celebrate with “Christ is Risen.”
However, today is not simply a day of mourning, but it is also a day of joy, because the human nature of Christ died on the Cross, the soul of Christ was separated from the body, but the soul together with the Divinity descended into Hades and liberated all those who believed in Him; and the Divinity together with the body remained in the tomb and this body was incorruptible. This is what the Epitaphios presents to us when we come to meet the Epitaphios as we do, because the Kouvouklion is not a tomb that contains a dead person, but it contains the God-man Christ, the living Christ. It is very characteristic that, when the Myrrhbearing women went to the tomb to anoint the body of Christ with myrrh, then the angels said: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? For He has risen, He is not here” (Luke 24:5). We do not have a dead God. The “god” of metaphysics, of a certain philosophy in the West, indeed died, that is, the god who died is the god of metaphysics. Our God, on the other hand, is alive.
Therefore, today has within it the element of sadness for the ingratitude of people, but at the same time it also has the element of joy, for the victory of Christ. This is how the Orthodox Church celebrates it. And we celebrate it with particularity here in the city of Nafpaktos, which, according to modern historical data, is a city of five and a half thousand years and this particular way of celebrating was determined over the centuries. And together with the Epitaphios today, which we see are full of flowers and light, because Christ is the Light of the world, we also have the particularities here in Nafpaktos. I hope that you have understood, those of you who have come for the first time, that you are in the center of the Castle City. The center of Nafpaktos is a Castle, it is a city surrounded by walls and we celebrate this full of optimism and light.
The Cross hovers over the sea, to show that above the sea, above the waves, above the difficulties of life there is the Light of Christ, the hope of our life. And in the sea there are the lanterns, that is, the water is united with the light, to show this hope and joy. And on the walls we have the flames, to show that this city has been kept free throughout the centuries, but even when it was enslaved it kept within itself the inner freedom. It is a hope of life against all our apparent enemies. And after a while the fireworks will be cast into the sky, to show that even the darkness of the sky must be illuminated and that man with the light must fly to the heavens, to make transcendences in his life; not to remain in sorrow and grief; not to remain in despair, because there is always hope and life. And this, I repeat, is very important, because we use gunpowder only to express joy and gunpowder should not be used for bombs that kill people.
Thus, within this perspective, we must celebrate the Resurrection of Christ this year as well.
I wish all of you, those near and far, the people of Nafpaktos and those whom we are hosting at this time in Nafpaktos, a Good and Blessed Resurrection. Our life is not, as a certain writer said, simply a bright spot between two darknesses, but our life is full of light, and it walks in the Light. “Now all things are filled with light”!
A Good Resurrection to all! Many Years!
The Cross hovers over the sea, to show that above the sea, above the waves, above the difficulties of life there is the Light of Christ, the hope of our life. And in the sea there are the lanterns, that is, the water is united with the light, to show this hope and joy. And on the walls we have the flames, to show that this city has been kept free throughout the centuries, but even when it was enslaved it kept within itself the inner freedom. It is a hope of life against all our apparent enemies. And after a while the fireworks will be cast into the sky, to show that even the darkness of the sky must be illuminated and that man with the light must fly to the heavens, to make transcendences in his life; not to remain in sorrow and grief; not to remain in despair, because there is always hope and life. And this, I repeat, is very important, because we use gunpowder only to express joy and gunpowder should not be used for bombs that kill people.
Thus, within this perspective, we must celebrate the Resurrection of Christ this year as well.
I wish all of you, those near and far, the people of Nafpaktos and those whom we are hosting at this time in Nafpaktos, a Good and Blessed Resurrection. Our life is not, as a certain writer said, simply a bright spot between two darknesses, but our life is full of light, and it walks in the Light. “Now all things are filled with light”!
A Good Resurrection to all! Many Years!
+ Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
