Easter 2005 Ocala  

"Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!"

This Paschal Greeting that is heard among us Orthodox Christians is unique in Christendom. It is only our Church, which preserved this Greeting and is exchanged during the 40 days following our Lord's Resurrection, after which He ascended into Heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father.

It is a noble tradition. It is an edifying tradition of our Christian Faith, because we firmly believe, that as the Lord arose from the dead, He did become the prototype of our own resurrection, when we shall live with the Lord eternally in His Kingdom.

Indeed, Pascha is such a Great Festival. It is triumphant and replete with so many uplifting promises. Pascha is most significant, because we celebrate the annihilation of death, because the Lord through his own Resurrection trampled down death. Doesn't our main Paschal Hymn, the Christos Anesti tell it all? "Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death, and bestowing life to those in the tombs!"

Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen! Repeating this greeting uplifts us to another world. It is the Lord himself drawing us up with Him! Death's gloom and darkness are dispelled, and the joy of life through the Holy Resurrection overtakes our hearts, and re-enforces our certainty of immortality.

We look at one another through the light of our Paschal candles, and our faces appear peacefully lit --- our thoughts pure and transparent --- our lives sacred as the light of the Resurrection night! We extend our hearts through our hand-shaking and embracing to wish the very best to one another. Indeed we are on such a higher spiritual level, afforded us through our Lord's Glorious Resurrection.

One night --- the very night of the Resurrection grants us great spiritual power, that we are able to forget all the endless nights with their nightmares, which we all go through. One triumphant cry is sufficient --- the joyous and fulfilling cry "Christ is Risen," to quiet down and possibly annihilate our any dissension. Our lips singing the joyous Resurrectional Hymn "Christos Anesti!" becomes an irrefutable response to the contemporary faithlessness.

Just one vision --- the wondrous vision of the Resurrected Christ, and all the demons, which choke the people of our time, flee away.

One Paschal candle raised high, and all the inner candles of faith are raised to illuminate and enlighten the dark horizons with a most hopeful and uplifting message. Pascha is but one day of the year, yet, it is the Feast of Feasts and the joy of joys!            We put on our best clothes, as if we want to signify our need and desire to regenerate our lives, --- to bring renewal to our souls.

How very much filled with beauty is the Feast of Pascha! Our whole existence is filled with a moving elation, and past nostalgic memories. Pascha lifts our souls above the temporal. It purifies --- it elevates, and inwardly beautifies the faithful.

Pascha raises us between Heaven and earth, because of the Lord's conquering over death. Pascha purifies our souls, because our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is Holy and pure beyond all purity. Pascha exalts and elevates us, because Christ arose victoriously and triumphantly, and constantly seeks to draw us all to Himself!

Pascha beautifies us inwardly because our Resurrected Lord is the only One, who does not bear "any spot, or wrinkle, or any other blemish" as St. Paul describes in one of his Epistles to the Thessalonians

The Paschal hymns reflect the glory of the Resurrection. One such hymn states: "It is the Day of the Resurrection! Let us shine forth in splendor for the Festival, and embrace one another. Let us say: "O Brethren, even to those who do not love us; let us forgive all things in the Resurrection, and thus, let us exclaim: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling Death by death, and bestowing life to those in the tombs."

In rounding out these words glorifying the Pascha, I bring you that very descriptive Ode of the Resurrection: "Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, Who alone is without sin. We venerate Your Coss, O Christ, and we praise and glorify Your Holy Resurrection.

For You are our God, and we know no other, except You, and we call upon Your Name. Come, all you faithful, let us worship Christ's Holy Resurrection; for lo, through the Cross, joy has come to the whole world. For, at all times, blessing the Lord, we praise His Resurrection. Having endured the Cross for us, He destroyed Death by death.

Having risen from the grave, as He foretold, He has given us Eternal Life and the Great Mercy."

Let us then, my beloved, make this Pascha the most fulfilling of all. Let us make it a source of inner rising, a personal purification, a personal elevation to a higher state of inner being, and a true fulfillment of our life.

Let us never forget that the Lord is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Amen. Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen! Christos Vocresse!