Christ is Risen!
Crist aras! Crist soþlice aras!
Today is the greatest of feasts: today we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Today we mark the destruction of death’s power over man, because (while we still die) we know that we will each rise again just as Christ did.
Christus ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden!
There are a few competing theories of the exact mechanism of how Christ’s Passion and Resurrection achieved salvation. Was it His Passion which did it? Was His death a sacrifice to pay for the sins of all? Was it His Resurrection which did it instead? By uniting the human and the divine in Himself and rising, did He make it possible for all men to rise? Was it both together? Was it something else, the Harrowing of Hell perhaps? I’m no theologian—all I know is that Christ died, and rose, and that consequently we all shall.
Christus resurrexit! Vere resurrexit!
Speaking of the Harrowing of Hell: as a boy one of my favourite images was what the scene must have been like after Christ died. In St. John Chrysostom’s famous Paschal sermon (which is worth a read in itself, and is better than anything I can write), he has this to say about what happened therein:
Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.
It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.
It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.
It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.
Hell took a body, and discovered God.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.
O death, where is thy sting?
O Hades, where is thy victory?
I always imagined Hell’s receiving-room to be something like a
modern-day mailroom, with a legion of demonic clerks taking in,
sorting and filing souls. I had this mental image of one of them
hiding behind his desk, frantically trying to get ahold of Satan on
the phone: Ummm…Boss, we’ve got a problem down
here. He’s here. Oh d——
And then the
line goes dead, and Satan reflects on the ideaalises that his scheme
is rather finally broken. It’s a silly little thought, but I
always enjoyed imagining it.
Христос воскрес! Воистину воскрес!
Just to show off Unicode, here’s the Paschal greeting in a few other languages:
Քրիստոս յարեաւ ի մեռելոց՜ Օրհնեալ է Յարութիւնն Քրիստոսի՜
ئەيسا تىرىلدى! ھەقىقەتىنلا تىرىلدى!
ക്രിസ്തു ഉയിര്ത്തെഴുന്നേറ്റു! തീര്ച്ചയായും ഉയിര്ത്തെഴുന്നേറ്റു!
!المسيح قام! حقا قام
ქრისტე აღსდგა! ჭეშმარიტად აღსდგა!
And of course, in the language which made it famous: Χριστός ἀνέστη! Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!
Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!
