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Today, the world’s Orthodox population celebrates Easter. Many happy returns. We hope peace, prosperity and happiness overwhelm Egypt, and that the Middle East region and every unstable part of the world become quiet. Resurrection sends us lots of messages of which immortality is the most important. History has always tackled the issue of death: and man has striven incessantly toward life. Yet, Resurrection came over with eternal life.
Religions have always promoted the ideology of resurrection and immortality. These are God’s gifts to man who He created on His image. Jews were fully aware of this. This is clearly reflected in Martha’s words to Christ after her brother’s death, as she said she knew he would rise on doomsday. Christ spoke a lot about man’s immortality and rising from death. He told the Sadducees who did not believe in resurrection, “Have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke unto him saying I am the God of Abraham? And the God of Isaac? And the God Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.” In the Qoran, we read, “On that day, angels and spirits stand in a row, never to talk save with God’s leave, and to tell the truth.”
At doomsday, God will judge each human being according to his deeds. Thus, man is deemed responsible for his life, thoughts, behavior, and decisions. He is accountable for all these on doomsday. Yet, throughout history many people have tried to evade this responsibility. Even worse, they have tried to cancel it altogether by denying the presence of God and resurrection, as well as man’s immortality!
Atheists have considered life trivial and meaningless. So much so that Sartre described existence as “trivial”. Atheists might have convinced themselves of the ideologies they believe in or the beliefs they reject. Yet, they could not find a solution for the plight of death. They have always asked themselves: “What follows death?” Yet, they were never able to overcome the fear of death.
Atheists and Death
Atheists never hid their contempt for religion and the presence of God, accusing believers that they are absent-minded. Carl Marx, German philosopher and economist, said, “Religion is the opium of the people.” But he was shaken by his son’s death. He wrote to a friend of his, “My son’s death hurt me deeply. I feel his loss as if it were yesterday. My wife collapsed totally.” Thomas Paine, the English thinker who attacked religion in his “Age of Reason” said at the last moments of his life, “I am ready to pay all my fortune to have ‘Age of Reason’ withdrawn. O God! Help me! I go to hell, if You abandon me.”
Yemelyan Yaroslavsky was an atheist and head of the League of the Militant Godless organization which the Communist Party founded to exterminate religion. The slogan of this organization was that fighting religion was fighting for communism. He wrote in magazines and newspapers and published books that aimed at persuading the ex-Soviet Union citizens that religious creeds and rituals were harmful. His activity was not bound to the Soviet Union. It crossed the boundaries. He described the organization’s mission in a conference, saying, “Our duty is to destroy all the religious concepts of the world. If this requires killing ten million people, as was the case in last war, we will do it, in order to support the advent of a new category of people.” It is said that Yaroslavsky cried out on his death bed, in the Stalin’s presence, “Burn all my books. Look: Hell is waiting for me… Burn all my writings.”
Few months before his death, Voltaire, the French writer, suffered from pangs of conscience. He wrote a declaration in which he renounced atheism and atheists. He dismissed all the atheists who surrounded him, saying, “Go away! How despicable the glory you brought to me is!” Sometimes, he sought mercy; he used to say, “God and humans forsook me. Hell is waiting for me.” One day, he said to his physician, “I am ready to bequeath you half my property if you make me live for six months.” The physician replied, “Sir, you cannot even live for six weeks.” Voltaire, then, said, “I shall go to hell.” He died shortly afterwards. His nurse said, “If I am given all the money of Europe, I will not see the death of an atheist again. He would cry all night long, asking for forgiveness.”
Another example is Francis Newport, founder of the English Infidel Club, who cried out at his death, “Oh, that I could lie for a thousand years upon the fire that is never quenched, to purchase the favor of God and be united to Him again. But it is a fruitless wish. Millions and millions of years will bring me no nearer the end of my torments than one poor hour. Oh, eternity, eternity forever and forever! Oh, the insufferable pangs of Hell!” In like manner, Anton Lavey, founder of the Church of Satan, and author of “The Satanic Rituals”, died crying, “What did I do? I made a terrible mistake.” He was asking for God’s forgiveness.
On the other hand, others bore the responsibility of their lives, offering all sorts of good. Thus, resurrection became a source of endless happiness for them. Heaven is that splendid place which nobody can ever imagine. So much so that St. Paul found no words to describe it except, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him.” Hence, resurrection opens up the gate of hope for every soul that used the gift of life in good deeds and lofty goals. Thus, its life has become a light that guides others and a love channeled toward humanity. I am not talking about the genius or achievers. Rather, I speak of all simple souls that bore good deep within them and offered it through deeds judged by many as ordinary. Yet these deeds had a great impact on the lives of many people, making their sad hearts happy, such as smiling to a person who feels rejected, encouraging a frustrated person, or giving advice to person who feels he cannot manage.
Believing in resurrection, man realizes that life is a journey that starts with birth, crosses the bridge of death, yet, has no end. Thus, he fills his life with goodness and righteousness, offering everybody hope and happiness. Life is a story… Stories never end in Beautiful Egypt.
General Bishop
Head of Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
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