SACRED MESSAGES OF PASCHA

Orthodox Pascha- April 8, 2007

By Katherine G. Valone

CHRIST HAS DIED; CHRIST IS RISEN; CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN!!!

The supreme object of his coming was to bring about the resurrection of the body. This was to be the monument to his victory over death, the assurance to all that he had himself conquered corruption and that their own bodies also would eventually be incorrupt; and it was in token of that and as a pledge of the future resurrection that he kept his body incorrupt.

St. Athanasius of Alexandria

To be immortal is to share in Divinity.

Clement of Alexandria

Indeed, whoever does not acknowledge Jesus Christ to have come in human flesh is Antichrist; whoever does not admit the testimony of the cross is sprung from the devil; whoever twists the Lord’s Gospel to suit his own lusts and denies both resurrection and judgment – such a one is the first-born of Satan.

St. Polycarp of Smyrna

So also Death thought that it had him in its power, but it had no power over him who became ‘free among the dead’ and stronger than the authority of death and so much stronger, that all who wish to follow him can do so, though overcome by death, since death has now no strength against them: for no one who is with Jesus can be seized by death.

Origen of Alexandria

If the resurrection were only spiritual, he would in raising the dead have had to show the body lying apart by itself and the soul living apart by itself. Why did he rise in the flesh he suffered in, except to show the resurrection of the flesh?

St. Justin Martyr of Palestine

What pleasure is there in our life that is not mixed with sorrow? What glory on earth that lasts? All are more fleeting than shadows, and more deceitful than a dream! But you, O Christ, in the light of your face, in the beauty of your holiness, give peace to our brother You have chosen, for You are the Lover of Mankind.

St. John of Damascus

God showed a gentle pity for the man who had been seduced; and this was the reason why He cast man out of Paradise and removed him from the tree of life; not, as some do not scruple to assert, that He grudged him the tree of life, but because He pitied him. Therefore He sought to prevent him continuing in transgression for ever, and to prevent the sin in which he was involved from being eternal, and the evil without end or remedy. So He put a stop to his wickedness by interposing death and making his sin to cease . . . so that man by dying to sin should begin to live to God.

St. Irenaeus of Smyrna

We shall be judged for the evil we have done, but especially for the good we have neglected and for the fact that we have not loved our neighbor.

St. Maximus the Confessor

Concerning “those who have died” (I Thes. 4.13) know that death is a sleep. For just as when we see someone sleeping we do not become loud nor distraught, knowing that eventually he will arise, so likewise when we see someone deceased let us not become loud or throw ourselves down; for this also is a sleep, longer perhaps, but a sleep. By the term dormition the bereaved were consoled and the argument of the faithless was destroyed.

St. John Chrysostom of Constantinople

I weep and lament when I consider death, and when I think of those who are laid in the grave. Where is now that moving beauty created in the likeness of God? Where is the glorious form? Oh, wonder: what happened that we are now delivered up to corruption? And how did death come into our life? God alone by his will and command has power to grant peace and rest to our souls.

St. John of Damascus

For us, to die will be a joy!

St. Seraphim of Sarov

All human things are vain since they cannot survive the grave; will riches survive, or glory attend us beyond the tomb? No! When death approaches, all these vanish. Let us then cry out to Christ, our immortal King, that He may give rest to him who has departed from us, and place him in the joy of heaven.

St. John of Damascus

EXPECT A GREAT FUTURE WITH GOD

The unseen spiritual values will ultimately endure. 2 Corinthians 4.16-18

A crown of goodness awaits those who love Jesus. 2 Timothy 4.6-8

We have a living hope in future salvation. Peter 1.3-1 4

After a time of suffering, God will perfect us. 1 Peter 5.8-11

God will rescue godly and punish ungodly persons. 2 Peter 2.9-10

In the end we will be like Christ. 1 John 3.2-3

The root of good works is the hope of the resurrection; for the expectation of the reward guides the soul to good works. St. Cyril of Jerusalem

AMEN! AMEN!! AMEN!!

CHRISTOS ANESTE !!!