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Home , Easter, Resurrection of Jesus

– OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR

The Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the most beautiful, joyous holy day – a holy day triumphing truth, a holy day restoring – it is the Feast of Feasts! The key note sounded by the early following our Lord’s resurrection was :

“Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? ... Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:54-57).

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

“This is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who it is that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 :4-5). The Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ

In the of the Resurrection, Jesus Christ stands victoriously in the center. Robed in heavenly , He is surrounded by a of star-studded light, representing the Glory of God. Christ is depicted descending into the land of the dead to fill it with his life and thus conquer death. The icon commemorates Holy , when Christ was working for our and life in death. He tramples over the destroyed gates of Hades (death), signified by the shape of the Cross over the deep abyss of the dead below with all the broken keys, locks and chains of death. Christ is shown dramatically pulling Adam and Eve from the . This humble surrender to Jesus is all Adam and Eve need to do, and all they are able to do. Christ does the rest, which is why He is pulling Adam and Eve from the tomb by the wrist, and not the hand. He pulls Adam and Eve – who represent all of humanity (you and me!) – out of the land of the dead. On his right are his ancestors in the flesh, Kings and , wearing crowns, and his cousin St. , who prepared the way for him in everything – even in death. On his left are people and prophets who prefigured him. Abel the shepherd, the first person innocently slaughtered, prefigures the . Moses and represent the old law and the prophecies about Christ respectively, all fulfilled and transfigured in Christ.

In celebrating the we do not merely celebrate an historical event that happened sometime in the past; we celebrate an event that affects each one of us personally today, right now. Because of Christ’s resurrection, every baptized Christian who has committed his life to Jesus as Lord can say: “Christ lives; therefore, I too shall live. Christ lives; therefore, I too have passed from death to life. Christ lives; therefore, I too have at my disposal the same power that raised Him from the dead. Christ lives; therefore, I too have the victory.” The Risen Lord gives us the strength to go on and the assurance that death does not have the last word. Paul affirms this in the language that speaks to every generation: “In face of all this, what is there left to say? If God is for us, who can be against us? … For convinced that neither death, nor life, nor , nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39).

Resources: “A . .” Julian J. Katrij, OSBM. Basilian Fathers Publication. Detroit, 1983. https://iconreader.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/the-resurrection-icon-of-victory/

Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen! Fr. Julian Bilyj District Chaplain