Why were the Myrrh-Bearers the first to hear that Christ had risen?
Metropolitan Avgoustinos (Kantiotis) of Florina († 2010) And he said to them: ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here…’ (Mark 16,6). When Christ was born, the first to hear of it weren’t the great, the powerful and...
The Good Unbelief of Thomas
Elder Moses the Athonite † In one of its hymns, our Church calls the unbelief of Thomas “good”. Understandably one would wonder – is there good and bad unbelief? There seems to be, because humans are not purely good or evil. In one who has a clean conscience, good...
After the Resurrection (3)
Archimandrite Elisaios, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petras ‘When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight’. So we’ve seen...
After the Resurrection (2)
Archimandrite Elisaios, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petras Let us, then, have a look at this mystery and understand it from a single appearance of Christ after His resurrection: to two of His disciples who were on the road to Emmaus, a small town some 10 miles...
After the Resurrection
Archimandrite Elisaios, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petras In his Easter Homily, Saint John Chrysostom announces that ‘Christ has risen and we can take part in life’*. This means that Christ has risen and we now have true life, or, in other words, Christ has risen and...
Prefiguration of the Resurrection in the Easter Canon
Mihail Tritos No other hymnological text expresses the redemptive, existential and metaphysical dimension of the Resurrection with such completeness and power as does the incomparable canon by Saint John the Damascan. It’s a masterpiece of Byzantine poetry and one of the most beautiful texts in world literature. Full of sublime...
A Brief Comment on the Icon of the Resurrection
Athanasios Moustakis We shall try here to point out the main features of the Orthodox icon which is entitled “The Descent into Hell”. The first thing to note is that it is entirely different from the Western-style depiction, which shows Christ emerging triumphantly from the tomb, holding a little flag....
Christians to the Paschal Victim Give Praise!
As we remember the days of Christ’s final ordeal, the Church feels an oppressive silence at the death of her Lord, a silence that penetrates to the depths of the heart of every disciple, then and now, who stands wordless before the Cross. It is the silence after an execution....
The Resurrection in the Orthodox Church
Saint Justin Popovich In the Orthodox Church, the Resurrection is not merely the ‘feast of feasts’, but the all-embracing feast, which is the soul of all the others and is always present in them. In it we find all the divine and theanthropic powers of the Saviour, which crush every...
The Cross and the Resurrection
Protopresbyter Vasileios Kalliakmanis a) The Cross leads to the Resurrection, Great Friday bears fruit on the bright Sunday of Easter. Sorrow, listlessness and despair make way for the joy and peace of the Resurrection. Without the Cross, the Resurrection is inconceivable and without the Resurrection the Cross has no point....
