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Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearers 04/22/07 "And they departed from the Tomb with fear and great joy!" Matthew 28:8 Try to sense the grief of the women, who very early in the morning went to the Tomb to anoint with fragrant oils their loved One, according to the Jewish custom. In their haste, they forgot the huge stone that sealed the Tomb, and questioned themselves, as to how they would be able to remove the stone. Having approached the area of the Tomb, they were shocked to see the stone rolled away, and hastily they entered the Tomb, which shown with great brilliance. Entering the Tomb, they saw a young man clad in a white robe, and they were amazed. And he said to them: "Do not be amazed! Are you looking for Jesus the Nazarene, Who was crucified and now is risen? He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His Disciples and Peter, He is going before you into Galilee. There, you will see Him, just as He said to you! (Mark 16:5-7) Today, the second Sunday after Pascha, the Orthodox world venerates these dedicated women. Indeed, they were the first to witness and proclaim the Holy Resurrection. As we know, the Pascha period extends for 40 days, until the Lord's Ascension into Heaven. During the first centuries there was continuous jubilation and glory, because through the Lord's Resurrection, death was annihilated and everything was made new. The Church seeks to rekindle the Glory of the Resurrection all through this 40 day period, even though, -- (and this is most unfortunate) --- after the initial "Christos Anesti," too many people fall back in the same old routine. Living the glory of the Resurrection Service, and truly sensing a kind of spiritual rebirth, so many do not even attempt to keep this very spirit alive, which had been deeply sensed at the Service. For the veritable Christian, the spiritual joy of the Resurrection has the identical meaning, as that of the women who went to find a Body, and instead, found an Angel of the Lord asking: "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but He is risen!" The Resurrection of the Lord, my beloved, is the Miracle of miracles, but it is simultaneously an historical Event, because it occurred in history; it was certified by so many people, as all other historical events are recorded. The Greatest Event in the history of the world is the Lord's Resurrection. It stands unique in the history of humankind. As a miracle, it remains beyond time and space, as well as for the comprehension of humans. It is explicitly a unique Miracle, and consequently inexplicable. For this reason, the Church does not seek to explain the Lord's Resurrection; She merely proclaims it with great faith! Supernatural acts of God, cannot be researched scientifically by he believer. Rather, they must be accepted and venerated in faith. The Apostles, as eye-witnesses of the Resurrection, presented themselves to the world, not as interpreters of how Christ rose from the dead, but as preachers of the fact, that indeed He did rise. With this faith, their lives were ended in martyrdom, as they personally testify, through their own words in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles: "For we cannot keep from telling, what we have seen, and what we have heard." Acts 4:20. The Resurrection of the Lord is the basis and the foundation of all the Church's preaching over the centuries. The Church herself, is a living testimony, as to the authenticity of Christ's Resurrection! How else could the Church have come into existence, and to have survived and increase as it has? In the 1st Epistle of John, 1:1-3 we read: "It is what existed from the beginning; what we have heard; what we have seen with our own eyes; what we have beheld; what our own hands have touched. I speak about the very message of life; --and that Life has been unveiled to us, as we have seen it, and testify to it, and now we announce it to you. Yes, the Eternal Life that was with the Father, and now has been unveiled to us. I repeat" says St. John, "it's what we have seen and heard, that we now announce to you, so that you too may share this fellowship with us; for this fellowship that we have, is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." St. Paul becomes even more emphatic in his 1St Epistle to the Corinthians by saying: "If Christ didn't rise, then all our preaching is in vain, and surely all our faith is in vain." The Resurrection of our Lord is what gives strength, power and conviction to the Church, and to the true believers. The preaching of the Apostles, was not founded upon clever myths, nor even upon philosophical knowledge, or ideologies, but upon an unquestionable historical fact. St. Peter in his 2nd Epistle 1:16 says: "We didn't follow any clever myths, when we told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His coming. No, -- with our own eyes we saw His Majesty." The power of the Resurrection over the lives of so many people is attested by the golden--mouthed, St. John the Chrysostom, who wrote, and I quote: "A great proof of the Resurrection of Christ is the great power He manifested after His death. His Resurrection convinced the living to abandontheir country, their home, their friends, their relatives, their families, and to take little thought of the danger to their lives. All these, are the achievements, not of a dead person, who remained in the Grave, but of a Resurrected God." So spoke the golden-mouthed, extolling the sacrifices of the countless Martyrs of Christendom, especially during the first 3 centuries. I repeat, that the Resurrection of our Lord as a Miracle, is a true living experience of the faithful, from the Apostolic times until today, and will be in all ages, regardless of how the Church may be challenged. It is a power, which truly must be felt by the individual Christian, and when a Christian sings or repeats the Christos Anesti, Christ is Risen, it must be proclaimed with true and undeniable conviction. Only then, can we give substance to the words of the Evangelist St. John: "This is the victory, that has won over the world, our faith in the Risen Lord." Amen. +Fr. George Papadeas
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