Jesus Christ’s resurrection is the most important and essential celebration for the Orthodox Christianity. It’s the joy and hope for every Christian. Our Lord, after his sacrifice on the cross, showing his infinite love to the human kind, He fulfilled his promise he had given. He rose from the dead. Firstly, he became one of us and participated in the difficulties and pain of human nature because of his compassion and love to the human kind dying for it on the cross. Thereafter, he rose from the dead and gave us the eternal life.
According to Saint Paul, if Christ had not risen from the dead, our faith would have been futile (1st Epistle to the Corinthians) and if we believe that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead, all humanity will eventually be risen , as he did (1st Epistle to the Thessalonians). The resurrection doesn’t only include the spirit, but the body too. It may be very challenging to talk about bodies’ resurrection, in an era in which the only truth we accept is what we conceive with our senses. Christ is raising the “whole human”, body and soul, from the dead and this is why in Orthodox iconography, Jesus Christ is depicted holding Adam from his wrist and not just his hand. Adam symbolizes all humanity which is to be resurrected as Christ did.
The meaning and the impact of Jesus Christ’s resurrection does not stop here. In Orthodox Christianity, Christians do not just sit and wait their death in order to be resurrected on Jesus Christ Second Coming. Our resurrection starts from this life. We win the spiritual death surpassing our passions and egos with the grace of the Holy Spirit as we take part in service at Church and we establish a personal relation with God. We are becoming little gods by the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave birth to the Church after Christ’s resurrection.
This is the reason why the Orthodox Christian tradition approaches all Christian celebrations through the perspective of Resurrection. Even when it comes to the icon of Nativity, we notice that little Jesus is lying in a bed that looks like a grave and he is wrapped up in a shroud. Despite the fact that this seems to be a paradox, it’s through the grave that the life came out and through the tomb that Jesus defeated death and raised all humanity from the dead.
Icon of Nativity
We shouldn’t forget that his disciples wouldn’t have given their lives preaching the gospel, if they hadn’t met the risen Christ in person again.
Christ is risen !!!
Happy Easter!
