A PASCHAL EPISTLE "
By Saint John Maximovitch, to his Western European and East Asian flock and to all his spiritual children, 1956."
By Saint John Maximovitch, to his Western European and East Asian flock and to all his spiritual children, 1956."
Let us cleanse our senses and see through the
gleaming, unapproachable light of Christ’s Resurrection.
Now is everything filled—full with light—the heavens,
the earth, and the underworld. All is presently bathed in light: Christ is
risen from the dead. The heavens make merry, the earth rejoiceth, the underworld exulteth.
The Angels in Heaven hymn Thy Resurrection, O Christ-
Saviour. Do Thou make us, on earth, also worthy to glorify Tree with a pure
heart.
The Angelic Choir, horrified at seeing Its Creator and
Master dead, doth now, in joyous song, glorify Him resurrected. Today doth Adam
exult, and Eve rejoiceth; and with them do the Prophets and Patriarchs sing
worthy songs to the Creator of all and to our Deliverer,
Who did descend into the underworld for our sake.
The Giver of Life doth lead men out of hell this day,
and up-lifteth them to Heaven;
He layeth low the powers of the enemy and breaketh
down the gates of hell by the Divine power of His authority.
On earth, the Angels an¬nounce the gladsome tidings to
men and declare Christ’s Resurrection. Attired in gleaming white robes, the
Angels ask the Myrrh-bearing Women: Why seek ye the Living One amongst the
dead? He is risen; He is not here! Come, see the place when the Lord did lie.
Τhe myrrh-bearing women rush to the Apostles, bearing
to them the joyous news. And through the Apostles the Gospel is Christ’s
Resurrection preached unto the entire world today.
Not all the Apostles immediately saw the risen Christ
through spiritual eyes. Two disciples travelling to Emmaus did see Jesus
walking with them, but did not recognize Him till such time as He had warmed
their saddened hearts; and then were their spiritual eyes opened. Mary
Magdalene conversed with Christ in the garden, but neither recognized Him nor
was cognizant of the mystery of the Resurrection, until the voice of her
beloved Teacher touched her heart and illumined her soul, which had been given
to thinking in worldly fashion.
It was the Beloved Disciple John, whose heart was pure
and undimmed by timidity, who before all others exalted the light of the risen
Christ through spiritual eyes; and with his bodily eyes did he behold the manifested
Lord.
Scattering and dispersing the dark and gloomy tempest
of sin, Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, shone forth, gleaming not in the
hearts and souls of the Apostles only, but in those of all who draw near to Him
with faith seeking salvation.
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed,
Christ proclaimed; Blessed are those who have perceived Me not with bodily
eyes, but with the eyes of the heart.
It was with his spiritual eyes that Archdeacon
Stephen, the proto-martyr, saw the heavens opened and the Lord Jesus at the
right hand of God the Father. It was with eyes of faith that the risen Lord was
beheld by Great-martyr George the Trophy-bearer and by all the other martyrs
who laid down their earthly lives for Christ, in order that they might receive
from Him life eternal. It was upon Him that podvizhniki
[athIetes”-of-the-spirit did fix their spiritual gaze; despising earthly
pleasures, they were crowned in the heavens with glory unfading.
But neither the Scribes nor the Pharisees, His enemies,
saw the resurrected Christ.
Nor did the tormentors of the martyrs see Him,
strengthening the martyrs. Neither did, nor do, all those whose spiritual gaze
is dimmed by unbelief, whose heart is befouled with sins and vices, whose will
is directed only toward the earthly, ever see the light of the glory of the
risen Christ.
Let us cleanse our hearts from all filth and foulness,
and our spiritual eyes will be enlightened.
the light of Christ’s Resurrection will flood and fill
our souls, in like manner as the Church of the Resurrection, yearly, throughout
the centuries, on Great Saturday, is illumined with light when the Orthodox—and
only the Orthodox—Patriarch receives the Heavenly Fire.
Let us lift up our hearts! Let us forsake everything
worldly; let us rejoice in this day and be exceeding glad! Christ is risen from
the dead, having trampled death by death.
Christ is risen!
Archbishop John, The Pascha of Christ, 1956, Paris
Vol. 12, Issue 03-04
