Holy Pascha – The Resurrection of our Lord

Icon of the Resurrection

Christ is Risen from the dead,
Trampling down death by death,
And upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

، المسيح قام من بين الأموات
، ووطئ الموت بالموت
! ووهب الحياة للذين في القبورر

It is kind of funny. I have been a member of the Orthodox Church for five years now, and the strange thing is that the childhood jitters and anxiousness and eagerness I used to feel on Christmas Eve as a child, comes back to me on Holy Saturday evening – not quite with the same intensity, but it is every bit the same feeling. Coming into a church that is as dark as the grave save for the light at Christ’s tomb. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Orthodox Christians from all over, many of whom I don’t recognise, but each and every one of us with the same expectation. Watching as one by one all the candles and clip reading lights are extinguished. Being immersed in the darkness of Christ’s Sabbath rest. And then watching the ceiling behind the altar light up. And watching the holy fire descend out from behind it. The procession out of the church and around it, our voices lifted in song. Hearing the ‘abrupt’ Short Ending from the Gospel according to Saint Mark. The pounding on the door, and then the triumphant Paschal hymn.

The entire setting changes. The mood instantly transforms from one of gravity, staid solemnity and expectation – through the fear of the women at the tomb – into one of exuberant joy as we answer: ‘Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!’ Where before we were each of us bowed before a dead and broken human being, the penultimate statement of our own death and brokenness as (say here what you will: rational beings, moral agents, persons); where before each of us stood silent and alone; where before every one of us was locked outside in the outer darkness; now we are gathered together, in the same light and partakers of the same light, with the same hymn upon all of our tongues. Hell is transfigured into heaven. The same tomb where before we had stood in mourning has been made into a bright garden festooned with candles and lights. We are bidden in to the feast; even the most wretched and least worthy of us is bidden in!

As with all religious experience, it’s not something that is readily explained, but something that has to be lived through, something that has to be done, to be understood correctly. And it’s never a single bright flash of light – we don’t all get a road-to-Damascus moment. Gentle readers, please note here that it took me the better part of six years from first seriously considering Orthodoxy through Berdyaev (and Bulgakov’s book on The Orthodox Church) to actually converting. Five years since then, I’m still hesitant to list any one thing as a particular formative experience, or to pick-and-choose fragments that I can weave into a coherent story. But Christ and His Church make things a little easier on us through the Liturgy and the feasts, by making us aware of the real but strange and startling ways we stand apart and can be brought together. Because, despite each of us being judged individually according to our unique and unrepeatable situations in life, we are all saved together in the Resurrection.

The women at the tomb had the same intention and went to the tomb with the same end in mind – but all of them were caught by surprise in the same event. They were all sent back to Galilee together by the messenger at the stone which had been rolled away. All of the disciples were invited to go to see him there. Though this is the single great festival of the Church and though we can and should now ‘relax’ and enjoy the feast of feasts, we should also keep in mind that the first Pascha is therefore an invitation to commit once again to the same work, both outward and inward – the works of prayer, repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, almsgiving and witness – as we had been doing during Lent. It’s hard to come down off the Lenten ‘high’, and I suspect the Church intends it that way.

In the holy mystery of the rising of Christ from the dead and His going ahead of us into Galilee, His continuing to do every good and perfect work for us, we take a needed breather with joy and gratitude. We break bread, we drink wine, we eat eggs and ham and sausage and butter and cheese (yes!), and we stay up into the wee hours in feasting. But the call to follow accompanies us throughout the year, to follow the One of Whom we say with joy: ‘Christ is Risen!’

O Christ, great and most holy Pascha.
O Wisdom, Word and Power of God,
Grant that we may more perfectly partake of Thee
In the never-ending day of Thy kingdom!