Many happy returns on the occasion of Easter which Eastern Christians celebrate! Though man knew death, he rejected it. The only means through which he could accept the idea of death was the presence of an eternal life which death never dissolves. Annals of history record how ancient peoples believed in afterlife and resurrection, hoping to return to life in a spiritual world.
Ancient Egyptian Civilization
Mummification
Ancient Egyptians’ belief in forth-coming and afterlife is strongly connected to their rejection of the idea of the death of spirit. Thus, the spirit was represented in their paintings and engravings as a being with the body of a bird and the head of a man. This bird travels through the material and ethereal worlds. Our ancestors believed that a spirit recognizes the body which contained it throughout its earthly life and, thus, could return to it. That is why they excelled in mummification through which the body was retained sound. Mummification was part of the ancient Egyptian religious rituals. It was called the “science of secrecy”. Nobody was allowed to see the process, save the high priest who used to summon two of his assistants to help him carry out his work and rituals.
The Gods of Good and Evil
Due to our ancestors’ belief in forth-coming and afterlife, as well as a judgment for man’s deeds, they promoted the presence of a god of goodness and another of evil. They believed that throughout his life, man is in constant conflict with good and evil, and that after death, he would stand before a divine tribunal to be judged on his deeds. His heart would be weighed on a scale of justice.
The Pyramids
The pyramids have always testified to ancient Egyptians’ belief in the immortality of the spirit, the forth-coming, as well as the eternity of the afterlife. Pharaohs built the pyramids, royal tombs, which bore each king’s name. These were safe places whence they placed their mummified bodies. They would provide the dead with their needs, such as furniture, tools, and their favorite food and drink.
Moreover, they used to engrave beautiful scenery on the tomb walls they might make the dead joyful upon their return to life. This was how they got ready for the spirit’s return to its body. Man would relive with a sound body and stand before the divine tribunal to be rewarded according to his deeds during his earthly life.
Sumerian Civilization
Sumerians and Canaanites believed that the mythical “Phoenix” was a symbol of forth-coming and resurrection. The Arabs also knew it by the name of “Anka”. It was characterized by beauty and strength. Myths used that bird as symbol for forth-coming and resurrection. Herodotus recounts the myth of the Phoenix which would be reborn every two thousand years. Thus, it returns to its fatherland, Phoenicia, to choose a high palm tree or tree which reaches the sky where it builds a nest. Afterwards, it dies in fire. Then, a white worm gets out of the ashes. It changes to a larva from which a new Phoenix comes out, bearing the remains of the old body, after which it returns to its place. Details of the story vary.
The legend of the Phoenix is linked to that of the Tammuz, the pastoral deity, who underwent death punishment, after which the goddess Ishtar decided to save him. She made a pact with the underworld gods to retrieve him to life for six months, provided that another one replace him during that time. This job was done by the Phoenix which would return to life. Thus, the Sumerians and Canaanites used to celebrate the return of Tammuz to life with the beginning of spring and the sprouting of plants and trees.
Druze, Buddhists, and Hindus
These three faiths have a different conception of resurrection: for they believe in reincarnation: whereby the spirit inhabits a new body. In the end, only spirits are judged for good or evil.
Greek Philosophers
Greek philosophy emphasized the belief in afterlife and the judgment of man for his deeds. Socrates speaks of the reward of the good and evil, saying, “Those who lead a pure, honest life are led by the gods, after death, to a wonderfully luminous land where there are trees and flowers that are totally different from these. The soil is also different. On the other hand, the sinful and dishonest are carried to a river burning with water and mud. They shall never get out of it.
The pure and chaste are led upward to the pure abode where they shall dwell.” He also says, “Beware evil deeds more than their punishment.” Thus, he believed in resurrection and judgment which man would undergo after death.
Religions
Judaism, Christianity and Islam acknowledge forth-coming, resurrection and afterlife. This is reflected in their teachings.
The ideas of resurrection and immortality are reflected in Judaism through the story of “The Rich Man and Lazarus the Beggar”. Lazarus used to sit at the rich man’s door. The latter never showed him any mercy. When both men died, the rich man went to hell, for he never helped the beggar. Here, there is a clear allusion to an afterlife and a reward for man according to his deeds.
In Christianity, we read, “for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.” (John 5:28)
In Islam, we read in Surat al-Naba’ (The News: 38), “On that day, angels will stand in a row. None of them shall speak up, except those who are allowed by the Merciful and say the truth.”
Hence, throughout history, man has sought a solution for the death dilemma which he is sure to go through. He has believed that death is not the end of his life. Rather, there will be another life. This idea was expressed in a variety of ways: acceptable and unacceptable. Yet, these are but pieces of evidence that he believed in afterlife and reward for deeds.
Thus, resurrection means that death is no longer scary. Nor is it saddening. Rather, it is a bridge we pass to another life. Also, the way man’s afterlife will be is his choice. His existence is not something that time annihilates; rather, he is destined to be immortal. On the other hand, those who deny resurrection and immortality, claiming nihilism, are trying to evade responsibility for their lives and deeds.
Many happy returns!
General Bishop
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
