Archbishop Savva (Raevsky)
Rating: 10|Votes: 1
Before Pascha, you heard the Gospel reading in which the Lord, not long before His suffering and death, visited the home of Simon the Leper in Bethany. One woman, filled with great love and gratitude to the Savior, brought a vessel of valuable oil and poured it onto the head and feet of the Savior, wiping them with her hair. The house was filled with its aroma. But the aroma of this love was interrupted by the stench of the greedy Judas.
Bishop Alexander (Mileant)
The Holy Myrrhbearing Women were in a similar situation. You will recall that even Peter, the most determined and courageous of Apostles, had renounced Christ only two days earlier, out of fear that a servant girl would report him. The other disciples of Christ, fearful of being arrested scattered abroad. When they met again to discuss what to do next, on the third day after Christ's crucifixion, they did it secretly "for fear of the Jews."
Fr. George Calciu
Rating: 9|Votes: 20
During Pascha of 1981, I was in the prison of Aiud. Early that morning, when the guards was changing shifts, I broke every diabolic rule of the prison by saying to the guard (one of the cruelest): “Christ is Risen!” He hesitated a few moments, in which, like lightening, I saw passing on his face the innocence of childhood, when his mama or grandma led him by the hand to church and when he heard the angelic voice of the priest saying: “Christ is Risen!”
Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov)
Once an ascetic of the Kiev Caves Lavra went on Pascha day to the famous caves where hundreds of monks are buried, and, from his abundance of Paschal joy, exclaimed, “Christ is risen!” “In truth He is risen!” came a brotherly, jubilant response. It was a greeting from another world, from the reposed monks abiding in the coffins of the caves; citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom.
Schema-Igumen Seraphim (Baradell)
Creation was destined for the Annunciation from the very beginning of the world; it waited and thirsted for it. Thousands of years passed before the human race reached the time of its blossoming, and she who had found grace with God appeared on the earth. The Annunciation was preordained within the depths of the Holy Trinity; nevertheless, the good tidings of salvation needed yet to be heard and accepted by man. The Lord inviolably honors the freedom of His creature, and therefore the Annunciation was directed toward that freedom.
