“Now everything is filled with Light… heaven and earth and the underworld…” (From the Hymnology of the Resurrection)
INTERPRETATION: Everything, now, has been flooded with endless Light: the sky and the earth and the dark undergrounds of hell...
The Resurrection Light that poured out into all Creation, from the Life-giving Tomb of Christ, was not created… like the light of the setting sun, which rises in the morning and reigns in the evening. The “Self-luminous Aura” is pre-eternal and ever-luminous… uncreated and uncreated… unseen and unending… life-giving and life-creating… glorious and glorifying… divine and god-creating…! The Sun of Righteousness, Christ, reigned [ 1 ] as a mortal man, with His voluntary Crucifixion and God-like burial, and rose as an immortal God, with His 3-day Resurrection, freeing the “vibrating and constricting Creation” [ 2 ] from the power of death and corruption.
The Holy Light of the Resurrection is an unquenchable Light… that cannot be compared to the fading lights of this world. It radiates endlessly to all universes, illuminating all rational and irrational Creation. The Holy Light of Christ is not something that is “seen” with the eyes only… but “participates” – under conditions of psychosomatic purity – with all the inner and outer senses of man! It shines endlessly from the inexhaustible Light Source of the “Triscelestial Divinity”, and is channeled to all creation – in Heaven, on earth and in the underworld – through Him who is “Light… from Light”! [ 3 ] He who invites “every breath” [ 4 ] of rational and animal beings of all visible and invisible Creation, to an eternal celebration of worship and universal praise…! For, all the creatures of the Creator’s creation “anticipate” [ 5 ] the “New Creation” of the universal renewal… [ 6 ] which the Resurrection of Christ heralds!
Having just passed through the flood of the Resurrection Light of the Bright Days - the “Renewed [ 7 ] Week - and heading towards Holy Pentecost… we feel that we have been overwhelmed by Heavenly Gifts… that surpass us inexpressibly! Being overwhelming and disproportionate to our “administrative” inexperience, these Gifts require us to… become serious and pay attention! For, how will we be able to “administer” the holy Light of the Resurrection… without having a holy life and a luminous state…?! How can we remain untouched by the Grace of the Immaculate and Life-giving Mysteries that we have received… without striving diligently, to stand - with the Grace of God - at the height of these Divine Gifts… and not slip back into the weaknesses [ 8 ] of our pre-existing spiritual pathologies…?!
The entire necessity of our spiritual struggle in Christ lies in: a) a careful preparation for our participation in the Immaculate Mysteries… and b) a protective safeguarding of the divine Grace that we received, having participated in the “Mysterious Supper” of the Kingdom of God (Immaculate Mysteries)! A sober and vigilant preservation of our mind… of our heart… and of our senses, in psychosomatic purity-cleanliness, so that the Grace of divine Communion may remain within us as long as possible! Because, truly, our spiritual struggle in Christ can well be condensed into this formula: I am careful, in order to receive Communion… but I am also careful because I received Communion…!
"I will celebrate Easter again today... and my longing is great,
I will celebrate Easter again today… because I will receive Communion again!…” [ 9 ]
If the weak and “prone to evil” human nature could remain untouched by the state of sanctification it receives from Holy Communion, our one and only participation in the Immaculate Mysteries would be enough… not just to Save us, but to literally Sanctify us, as had happened with Saint Mary of Egypt! [ 10 ] However, because we are unable to remain untouched by the holiness and incorruption that is granted to us by the communion of the Immaculate Body and Precious Blood of our Lord, it is necessary to re-communion… in order to re-receive the lost divine Grace… until we are healed of the “disease of carelessness” in the management of our unstable mind… of our vulnerable heart… and of our “slippery” senses…!
"As disciples of Christ, let us keep this new and fresh citizenship until the end, and let us study it differently, as we enjoy the presence of the Holy Spirit..." (From the Easter Hymnology)
INTERPRETATION: Having been taught, close to our Teacher Christ, a brand new life and a luminous state... let us study to preserve it unwaveringly until the end, so that we may be worthy to enjoy the gift of the Holy Spirit on the coming Feast of Holy Pentecost...
REFERENCES-FOOTNOTES
[ 1 ] “The Lord has reigned, clothed with majesty… the Lord has clothed himself with strength and girded himself… and he has established the world, that it shall not be moved…” (Psalm 92:1)
INTERPRETATION: The Lord is a King clothed in majesty… girded with omnipotence… and he has established the universe so that it cannot be moved without His permission…
The use of the words “basilevo” and “basilema”, as synonyms of “dyo” and “dysis” refers almost exclusively to the created “king” sun (the fiery star that illuminates and warms our Solar System). For, just as a king wears “royal purple” when he sits on his throne, so every time the “king sun” goes towards his setting, i.e. leans towards the western horizon, we say that he reigns in his purple majesty…
[ 2 ] “All creation groans and groans together until now…” (Rom. 8:22)
INTERPRETATION: The entire Creation of God is tormented and suffers until now from its enslavement to corruption, due to the sin of humans.
[ 3 ] “Light from Light… True God from True God…”: A phrase of the greatest doctrinal importance, from the Symbol of the Orthodox Faith, which refers to the second Person of the Triune Godhead, the Only Begotten Son and Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate God and Savior of mankind.
[ 4 ] “Every breath… praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150:6)
INTERPRETATION: Every living breath… let it glorify the Creator of life…!
[ 5 ] The “longing for the creation” (Rom. 8:19) is an apocalyptic term of Orthodox Theology, which refers to the expectation of God’s entire creation, for its liberation (after the Second Coming of Christ) from captivity to corruption… to which man’s unrepentant fall into sins and passions condemned it! Creation awaits with longing the “revelation of the glory of the children of God” that will occur at the end of earthly history, in order to participate in the eternal incorruption of the New Creation…
“Apokaradokía” means intense expectation, waiting with head held high (from + καρα + δοκεύο) and attention tense…! Creation was subjected to corruption and is tormented under the power of death… because of man’s fall into sin. The renewal of creation – which constitutes a promise of Divine Love – is inextricably linked to man’s spiritual state. While man is under the law of sin, creation is inextricably linked to him as his fellow prisoner in the state of corruption. When man is resurrected, by the Grace of God, all creation will be resurrected with him from the slavery of corruption… and will be introduced into “the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21). Until that day, creation will “travail and travail,” awaiting adoption and redemption…
[ 6 ] The “New Creation” that Mother Church teaches us about (2 Cor. 5:17) refers to the renewed spiritual and incorruptible reality of the universal Creation… which will be inaugurated after the Second Coming of the God-Man Christ. In this rebirth, transformation and overcoming of corruption… the faithful Christ-worshipper can participate “in a foretaste” through the Immaculate Mysteries! It is not simply a matter of “moral improvement” but of a radical renewal and transformation. Thus, the Christ-worshipper who participates experientially in the Crucifixion of Christ by crucifying his passions, becomes part of the “New Creation,” which begins with participation in the glory of the Resurrection. The created Creation is united with the uncreated Grace of God… through which the world is transformed and incorruptible, participating in the incorruptibility of God.
[ 7 ] The “Renewal” Week following Easter Sunday is the only period of the year during which Christ-worshippers have the blessing, if they wish, to receive the Holy Mysteries daily, without having to fast nutritionally (while necessarily fasting from the passions…)! This is blessed by the Manna-Church, because the entire Bright Week is considered as one Bright Day, flowing in the Grace of Christ’s Resurrection.
During the first centuries of the Christian Faith, the Church diligently catechized candidates for Christianity (Jews or pagans) throughout the Triodion and Great Lent, baptizing them en masse in large outdoor baptisteries, on the night of Holy Saturday to Easter Sunday, during the Resurrection Divine Liturgy.
The newly baptized Christ-worshippers emerged from the baptisteries bright and renewed, wearing white tunics… which they wore throughout the week of renewal. In their hands they held lighted candles, which symbolized the uncreated Light of Christ that had shone mentally inside and outside them, as a garment of incorruption, as if they were putting on Christ. Precisely for this reason, after Baptism, the people sang the hymn that we still sing today at Baptisms and at the Resurrection Liturgy: “All of you who have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ…” (Gal. 3:23)!
Living now existentially renewed, and walking “in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4), the newly enlightened Christians participated unceasingly throughout the Bright Week, sharing the divine Gifts and carrying the Light of the Resurrection. Exactly, as is done today in Orthodox Churches, during the Renewed Week, with the Faithful reverently participating in the daily Divine Liturgies of the Bright Days, and devoutly partaking of the Immaculate Mysteries… which “unite” souls with Christ!
[ 8 ] Many years ago… when my Elder was “nurturing” me in the Mystery of the Spiritual life in Christ… among other questions of mine, I had asked him something that deeply concerned me. How can I understand empirically (beyond the sense of emptiness and sadness that our heart feels when the Grace of Christ leaves it) IF I lost the Grace… from participation in the Immaculate Mysteries…?! And he answered me immediately, without even thinking:
One of the next days, after you have received the Holy Gifts… go and sit in the exonarthex of the Catholicon. There, observe carefully - but with caution... so as not to slip into condemnation! - how the monks who have just received the Immaculate Mysteries leave the Church... Pay attention to how they open and close the door behind them: Those who (still) have the Grace of Holy Communion within them... turn the knob quietly, opening the door silently-reverently-calmly. However, those who have already “managed” to lose it, immediately after their departure from the Holy Chalice, open and close the door awkwardly... nervously... irreverently... agitatedly...! There, you have an “image” of what you asked!
Truly, what I witnessed was revealing: Very few of the Monks who had just received the Holy Gifts still retained (and for as long as they continued to be spiritually attentive…) the Divine Grace of the Immaculate Mysteries, which obviously inspired them with a careful, silent, humble, peaceful and reverent “management” of their psychosomatic sensations…!
[ 9 ] The above verses come from the wonderful poem by G. Veritis: "The Social"! To see the entire divinely inspired poem, follow the digital link: http: //users.UOA.gr/~nectar/orthodoxy/prayers/communion_poem_Prayer.htm )
[ 10 ] Saint Mary of Egypt, when she was drawn by Christ to repentance, and withdrew from the fornicating life she lived in the Jordan desert to become an ascetic in repentance, was unable to approach the Immaculate Mysteries throughout the 40+ years of her ascetic life. She was deemed worthy to receive the Holy Gifts only once: on the day of her death, shortly before her (sanctified by repentance) soul flew to its Creator, receiving the Grace of the Life-giving Mysteries “as a provision for eternal life”…!
