Never
and nowhere, in any false religion or human philosophy, has anyone ever given
any thought – whether seriously or in jest – that it could ever be possible to
vanquish the most undesirable intruder in man’s life and our worst enemy –
death – which is undoubtedly the supreme form of anguish in the present
lifetime.
Christ’s
Resurrection, which had abolished Death, has the common resurrection of all the
dead as its immediate outcome. This is a truth that is genuinely Christian. It
was not coined by the Disciples of Christ – those simple fishermen who
obviously were not predisposed for philosophies and theories. Victory
over death is not a human invention; it is the work and the revelation of the
Holy, Glorious, Triune God for the sake of fallen mankind.
Never
has anyone in antiquity – from the wisest, the most intellectual, scientific,
fanciful, romantic, to the most naive, lying, storytelling individual – ever
considered that it would be possible to defeat death. It has never been
mentioned - not even in fairytales. It didn’t even exist as nostalgia,
and not because people would not have desired it – quite the opposite. Quite
simply, they regarded it as something so elusive, that they never dared to
desire it or to even think of it. And we all know how in life we usually
desire those things that we have some - even if only the slightest -
possibility of attaining, or have seen others attain them…
Christianity
is not a mere teaching; it primarily involves tangible and secured facts, from
within which automatically springs forth the truth, without words - at least of
its core teaching regarding God, mankind, the world, etc.. In the present
instance, the Resurrection of Christ will have as its consequence the
resurrection of the dead. Since Christ had foretold that He would rise
from the dead and did in fact rise, and He had also said that we too would be
resurrected, then, given that the former was realized, it is certain that the
latter will also take place, since both are humanly impossible.
The
Resurrection of Christ is doubly secured: both by prophecy and by history,
therefore it is the most certain of facts in mankind’s history. That is why,
over and over again, many times, Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen!
ARCHIMANDRITE
ARSENIOS KATERELOS
