The Lord giving His Body and Blood. Fresco in the Sretensky Cathedral of the Resurrection and the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church
After the Resurrection, Your Body is like the angels who need neither food nor breath. Neither the closed doors, nor the strongholds of shackles, nor the very locks of hell are any obstacle for You.
It’s also like the body of Adam, clothed in a robe of light before the Fall. Nothing—neither the beasts of the field, nor the top of cliffs, nor the depths of the seas—could harm such a body. The flesh was originally intended to become God-bearing. You are God, Who has received and bears flesh, who has raised it to the heights of theosis.
But Your resurrected Body is also the same one that was once wrapped in the swaddling bands of a loving Mother. You walked on our Earth with Your feet, and Heaven was reflected in your eyes. Your hands weren’t foreign to our labors—they held a planer, hammer, and other carpenter’s tools. Together with St. Joseph, you made household items for those around You. Later, Your hands healed with but a touch and broke the miraculously multiplied bread. Your hands blessed children and returned them, peaceful and joyful, to their mothers and fathers. And more than once Your hands were raised in prayer to God the Father.
It was precisely these hands You showed to Thomas that were pierced with nails, blood running down to the ground, so that, unable to stand it, the earth shook, and the sun, not daring to look, became darkened. But now Your hands break bread for Sts. Luke and Cleopas. They didn’t immediately recognize You; only the warmth of heartfelt love became a clear testimony. With these hands You blessed the Disciples as You ascended to Heaven (cf. Lk. 24:50-51). You bless all of us with them. For You are ever with us until the end of the ages (cf. Mt. 28:20).
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Also, I dare to say of Your resurrected Body—oh, what a miracle!—that it’s the same one of which we partake in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. For we commune with You, Who not only suffered and poured out Your Blood upon the Cross, but Who also resurrected. If we had love and humility, and also purity, then we would know the mystery of the Resurrection in the Mystery of Communion, for they are the same mystery in essence.
At the Mystical Supper, You said to the Disciples: Ye are My friends (Jn. 15:14). And after the Resurrection, You say even more, calling Your Disciples Your brethren. Thus you said to St. Mary Magdalene: Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God (Jn. 20:17). What a miracle—having conquered death, having passed through the Cross, through hell, You are resurrected forever, and You call Your Disciples brethren. Therefore, communing of You in the Holy Mysteries, if, of course, we preserve purity, love, and humility, then we will become Your own, of one body with You, the Resurrected One.
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The Apostle Peter resurrects Tabitha
After Your death on the Cross and Your Resurrection, we see a third trinity of resurrections in the pages of the Bible. The first: The graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after His Resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many (Mt. 27:52-53). The second: St. Peter resurrects Tabitha, who was full of good works (Acts 9:36-41). Third: The Apostle Paul resurrects the youth Eutychus (Acts 20:9-12).
The first case is the mysterious resurrection of the saints for the sake of testifying to Your Resurrection, as You Yourself said: The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live (Jn. 5:25). The second is the resurrection of a merciful woman, as a sign that genuine mercy doesn’t die. The third is the resurrection of a young disciple, that the good news about You would not know ruination on Earth.
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You are risen, and everything in the universe has fallen into place!
For if You’re not risen, why would the sun rise? After all, it will set again. If You’re not risen, what would people be born for? After all, the one who is born is consumed by death, this eternally gaping, insatiable, hungry mouth. If You’re not risen, why we would amend our lives? We would live for pleasure and die, snatching a brief moment of the sweetness of this deceptive Earth. If You’re not risen, then the word about Paradise is empty and dead, because hell reigns in earthly affairs. If You’re not risen, then why should we endure sorrows, sicknesses, and know hardships and war? But, Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come (Ps. 101:14).
Nightingales sing of the joy of spring, and in Heaven the angels hymn Your Resurrection, O Lord. Every sprout breaking through the thickness of the earth testifies to the Resurrection. All of creation hymns it, awakening the spring. But the life of the Church itself testifies to it yet more, where inveterate sinners are resurrected for the joy of Heaven (cf. Lk. 15:7, 10).
Having taken captivity captive, You removed the sting of death. Yes, it’s still allowed to act, but toothlessly; it shrank back pitifully. It won’t be able to hold anyone indefinitely anymore. For the will of the Father Who sent You is that none of those given to You should be lost, but that all would be resurrected on the last day. The will of Him Who sent You is that everyone who sees the Son (as we sing in church: “Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ,” that is, with the eyes of the heart, the eyes of the soul) and believes in Him would have eternal life, and that You would raise them up on the last day (cf. Jn. 6:39-40).
Thus, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me (Job 19:25-27).
Thy Resurrection O Christ our Savior, the angels in Heaven sing, enable us on Earth, to glorify Thee in purity of heart!
