April 12, 1998
The
Meaning of the Lord's Resurrection
This week's thought is not from the early Desert Fathers, but
rather from a modern Orthodox bishop steeped in the traditions and teachings of the
Desert. It is from a lovely book by His Grace Augoustinos N. Kantiotes, Bishop of Florina
in Greece. With Orthodox Holy Week upon us, and Pascha just a few days away, our thoughts
naturally turn more than ever to the Crucifixion of our Lord and His Bright and Glorious
Resurrection. Please share with us in the words of Bishop Kantiotes.
BEGIN: In the Lord's Resurrection, as in a lens, the greatest proofs of Christian Truth
are concentrated. Gospel preachers, let the Resurrection of the Lord be the center of your
teaching. Refer to it constantly. Do you want to preach about the holiness, the
sinlessness of Christ? Preach about His Resurrection. This is the greatest tangible proof
of His blameless, sinless life; for, being impure and guilty through original sin and our
own sin, everyone without exception falls under the penalty, the sword of death. Death is
the reward of sin, but there is One who committed no sin, who was without guile. He is
outside original sin, free of any sin of His own, devoid of sin. Proof? The Resurrection.
Death could not hold the sinless One. It had no power over Him. Do you want to preach that
the sacrifice on Golgotha was unique, that it was offered to remit the sins of the world,
and that the Blood of Jesus Christ purifies us of every sin? Use the Lord's Resurrection.
This is the answer of Heaven, that the sacrifice on the Cross was accepted.
This is like another fire which once descended from the sky and consumed the sacrificial
offering of the prophet Elijah and certified that the sacrifice was accepted. Do you want
to console those who are grieving the death of a loved one? Show them the empty tomb. Just
as the Lord rose from the dead, so the dead will arise and on their tombs will be written,
"they are not here." Do you want to show that the power of evil and deception is
temporary, that the victory ultimately belongs to purity and truth? Use the Resurrection.
It is the triumph of the Righteous One.
Do you have before you sinners -- and who isn't? -- who can groan under the heavy burden
of their sins, and who cannot, with all their knowledge and philosophy, budge this burden,
who live a wretched life, worse than a thousand deaths in their multifarious graves of
sin? Do you find yourself before sinners? Ah, then, above all preach with all your lungs'
power, with all the vehemence of your believing heart, the Resurrected Lord. He who rose
from the dead can raise those dead in transgressions from their graves of sin. He
"grants resurrection to the fallen."
Gospel workers, open your Bibles. See how the prophets and Apostles preached, above all
the Apostle to the Nations, St. Paul. Study the appropriate New Testament passages which
extol the magnificence of the Resurrection and see how priceless a diadem comes from this
foundation of truth (Matt. 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20 and 21; Acts 3:15, 5:30,
10:40-41; Romans 1:4, 4:25, 5:1-11, 6:4; 1 Corinthians 15; Phillipians 2:7-11; Collosians
3:1-4; I Thessalonians 4:14; Hebrews 13:20-21; I John1:1-4; Revelation 1-18). END TEXT
In another passage, Bishop Kantiotes writes,
BEGIN: The Lord rose from the dead. He lives and reigns forever, but His disciples today,
the millions of baptized Christians, are for the most part dead in a spiritual sense.
Christ does not live in their hearts. They show no tangible proof of their faith. Where is
their fiery zeal to spread the Gospel? Where is their burning love, their bold decision to
go out and demolish the strongholds of Satan? They are indifferent -- cold as the marble
slabs that cover the tombs of the dead. They are dead, unburied dead. The laity are dead,
but so too are the clergy, especially bishops, in whose chests Christ is supposed to live
and reign. What a great calamity! Our bishops are dead, faithful copies of the sluggish,
useless bishop of the church of Sardis whom the Holy Spirit rebuked saying, "I know
your works, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead!" (Rev. 3:1).
A church comprised of spiritually dead clergy and laity, a church that carries death and
spreads it, cannot be called anything else but a dead church.
Take comfort. Amid all the coldness that transforms people's hearts into snowballs, there
are still sparks -- burning coals and hearths of spiritual life in the modern world.
Wherever a child stammers a quick prayer through innocent lips; wherever a boy or girl
actively listens to catechetical lessons and sings joyous songs to the resurrected Lord;
wherever a faithful mother prays for her children's salvation; wherever a young man or
woman in the flower of youth offers himself or herself to the Lord's service; wherever a
faithful nurse spends the night at the bedside of a sick person; wherever a missionary
goes through virgin jungles to spread the light of the gospel to spiritually unenlightened
lands; wherever there is a mighty battle against the dark powers; wherever sinners repent
sincerely for their miserable past and, like Mary Magdalene, shed tears by their own tomb
and seek forgiveness in confession; wherever there are holy pulsation's; wherever hearts
are warmed in reading the Scriptures -- there are the sparks, the blazing coals, the
spiritual hearth, the living Church. There is where Christ lives and reigns to the ages of
ages.
Faithful souls, whenever earthquakes topple our world and whenever you see the ruins left
behind by the faithlessness and corruption of our times, do not be disturbed. You have a
rock upon which you can stand and an anchor upon which you can depend. You have a light
with which to pass through. You have the sun that rose out of the tomb -- Jesus, crucified
and resurrected from the dead. Why are you afraid? What is there to fear? Come, let us
worship and bow down to Him, Christ, the Victor over Death, the Kind of the Ages. END
TEXT.
from "Follow Me," by Bishop Augoustinos N. Kantiotes (Bishop of Florina
in Greece), (Belmont, Massachusetts:Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies,
1989), pp. 265-269
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