I congratulate you with Glorious Easter whereas all Eastern Christians celebrate, invoking God to protect the world from every hardship, distress and plague as we pray the Holy Week’s Supplication saying: “Hear us, O God of Jacob, and look down, O God our helper. Spare the world from death, scarcity, pestilence, devastation, the sword of the enemy, earthquakes, horror, and all fearsome events. We ask You, O Lord, hear us and have mercy upon us!” We hope God-Almighty- protects our beloved country Egypt.
When we talk about resurrection of the righteous, we are looking forward to the eternal life that follows passing of humans the bridge of death: as they move from a life subject to time laws, weakened body and pain to a life beyond all time and pain with an immortal glorified body.
Resurrection of the dead is on Judgment Day whereas the reward of each human: “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:31) and when all humans gather before Him: “He will reward each according to his works”. (Matthew 16:27)
He sets the righteouson His right hand and the wicked on His left hand: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…” “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…” (Matthew 25: 31-34, 41)
As for the resurrection ofJesus Christ; it is unique and special as He has risen by the power of His divinity. Some of the prophecies of the Old Testament referred to His resurrection; as David the prophet said: “I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.” (Psalm 3:5)
In (Psalm 16:10): “corruptionFor You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see.” And also: “Let not the floodwater overflow me, Nor let the deep swallow me up; And let not the pit shut its mouth on me.” (Psalm 69:15)
In the Holy Book of Hosea: “On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.” (Hosea 6:2); “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction!” (Hosea 13:14).
In the Old Testament there were very clear symbols on Christ’s resurrection like: the return of Isaac alive after Abraham his father took him to be presented as an offering to God, and when the people crossed the Red Sea, it was also a symbol to death and resurrection; and also Jonah’s getting out of the whale alive after he spent three days and three nights in its belly. Christ referred to that: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40). In addition to the law of purification from Albinism, a sparrow used to be set free as a symbol to Christ resurrected from death. That what Christ said to his disciples after resurrection: “Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day…” (Luke 24: 44-46).
Christ talked about His death and resurrection in many occasions as: when He said to the Jews who asked for a verse: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19)
St. John the Apostle clarified that Christ was talking about His death and resurrection: “But He was speaking of the temple of His body.” (John 2: 21); Also from what He said to His disciples: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” (Matthew 16:21), “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” (Matthew 17: 22-23)
“And deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”(Matthew 20:19). After the transfiguration event; Christ asked His disciples not to talk to anyone about what they saw unless after His resurrection. On the eve of His pain, He said to His disciples: “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night…”(Matthew 26:31).
Christ has risen on Sunday at dawn while the tomb was sealed, then the angel came and rolled the stone from the dooras a declaration of Christ’s resurrection; then he said to Peter and John: “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said!” (Matthew 28: 5-6).
Christ Arose, He Indeed Arose
Many happy returns to you all.
General Bishop,
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
