VII. Christ is Risen! Pascha Sunday

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√ develope – old spelling looks like an error to us.  4th paragraph from bottom starting with "But how..." 

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St. Philaret of Moscow

Elibron Classics

Sermon VII.

Christ is Risen!

Pascha Sunday.

Again hath it pleased God that we should see this king of days, the chief of all feasts.  Blessed is He Who holds in His power time and seasons!  Truly, the day of the resurrection of CHRIST is the king of days: for as subjects derive security, peace and dignity from the beneficent power of their king, so do all other days derive security and peace from the beneficent influence of the day of the resurrection of CHRIST: otherwise we should, "through fear of death, be all our lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. ii. 15.).  They derive dignity from it, for every day of the birth, life, and death of each of us, would be worthy of a curse if they were not all of them blessed by the day of the resurrection of CHRIST.  It was perhaps for this reason, that the light of unblest days was extinguished at the moment of the death of JESUS CHRIST, that out of His death and resurrection there might shine forth the new light of blessed days, miraculously illuminating all the future as well as the past.  And past ages too, say I, for Abraham, for so many centuries before the day of the resurrection of CHRIST, enjoyed the light, not of those days which he then saw, but of that day which he looked for in faith, as was said by JESUS CHRIST Himself unto the Jews: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it and was glad" (S. John viii. 56.).  And he saw this much desired day, more especially when, Isaac, – during three days offered up as a sacrifice in the intention of his father's heart and at length actually lying on the altar, on the wood of the burnt offering, under the sacrificial knife, and the slaying hand of his father, – was, in the words of he Apostle, "received by him again alive, as a foreshadowing of the future resurrection of CHRIST from the dead on the third day, after His visible sacrifice on the Cross, and inward holocaust.  And that the day of the resurrection of CHRIST might shed light upon the succeeding days and ages, see how JESUS CHRIST, the very Sun of righteousness Himself sheds upon it an inexhaustible light, when He says to the children of Light, the Apostles: "But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you" (S. John xvi. 22.).

If no man can take that joy away, then evidently it shall shine throughout all future time.

Christians!  ye sons of light, though perhaps the youngest of them! oh, if this day, which Abraham rejoiced to see, and which gave the Apostles a joy which could not be taken from them: if this day could but bring us, on every return of it, an increase of spiritual light, and a new confirmation of the joy of salvation!

To some it will perhaps appear, that I am "asking a hard thing" (2 Kings ii. 10.), that it is too much on my part to desire, and demand that the light and joy of the resurrection of CHRIST should always increase in us, while their source is ever one and the same, and therefore works upon us in the same way, and even appears not to act upon us with the same fullness of power as it did upon the Apostles; for they themselves had heard the promise of joy, and themselves had  seen the risen LORD, according to promise.  Now listen to my justification; for I hope to justify myself soon.

Think of the promise of joy given to the Apostles, and through them to us all: "I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice."

According to our way of thinking, it was better to say: You shall see Me, and your heart shall rejoice, for we rejoice when we see Him Whom we love; whereas the fact that He sees us may have no effect on us; for when we do not see Him, there is no reason for our heart to rejoice.  But the LORD tells us the contrary: "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice"; as if everything depended only on His seeing the disciples, and as if there were no ostensible difference between their seeing Him or not.  What then does the wisdom of God mean by this?  This, that as the light of this visible world proceeds from the sun, which is the eye of this world, so do the light of souls and the joy of hearts proceed from the presence of the SON of GOD, JESUS CHRIST, Who is the Sun of the invisible world.  That, as the sun, when he rises and shines down upon the earth, thereby shedding upon all earthly creatures a beneficent light, according as each is capable of receiving it, so does the God-Man, Jesus, when He looks down upon the souls of men, – by His presence bestow the light of grace upon the soul, and joy upon the heart, according to the spiritual capacity of receiving them, – that is to say in proportion to their love and faith, – above all, after that day when He, in the true spring and the new dawn of the world, ascended into heaven in His glorified manhood; which, being exalted through suffering, became, so to say, translucent to the fullness of the divinity abiding in it, and whose wounds are as doors open to the divine light.  And, as the enjoyment of the sun's light does not absolutely depend on our being able, or unable to see the sun's circle above us, both he who does not raise or strain his glance for this purpose as well as he who sits in the shade, or stands under a cloud, can avail himself of this light, – so also the enjoyment of the light of CHRIST and joy in the LORD do not necessarily depend on our seeing the figure of CHRIST appearing unto our bodily eyes, but both he, who in his humility does not raise his gaze to the height of His glory, as well as he who stands under the cloud of faith, or rests in the shadow of hope, are able to enjoy the spiritual light and heavenly joy, and that too at times with less danger than he who views heavenly visions which require an eagle's eye so as not to be dimmed by the superabundance of light.  Truly then with regard to joy in the LORD, the matter of greatest moment is, that the risen LORD should see us; and it makes no very ostensible difference, whether we have seen Him with our bodily eyes or not, but, what is of the greatest moment, is that the LORD should Himself look down upon us, not only with the never-failing eye of His Omnipresence and Omniscience with which He penetrates all things, and from which even, in the darkest depth of hell, the blackest thought cannot be hid; but that He should also look down upon us with the bright and luminous eye of grace, with the ardent and glowing look of love, with which He does not look upon all without distinction, but according to His choice, like as He looked down upon His Apostles and the holy women, after His resurrection.  Yet, such is His mercy that He excludes no one from this election who does not exclude himself.  He does not wait for us to seek that look of grace; but anticipating us, Himself seeks among us for those on whom He may bestow that look of grace, and Himself shows us the position in which we should stand, in order that His look may rest upon us.  "But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word" (Isa. lxvi. 2.).  If thou canst do no more, then try at least to be meek and contrite in spirit, and to have the fear of GOD in thee; and the LORD will look down upon thee, according to the law of election which He hath laid down for Himself, and proclaimed to us all; and He will then fulfill upon thee, as He did upon the Apostles, the promise given to thee through them: "I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice."

To verify this meditation by undoubted proofs, let us look at the first and nearest partakers of the joy of the resurrection of CHRIST: for their manifold experiences afford us as many strong proofs to assure us of that blessed event, as they do trustworthy instructions to lead us to a saving and blissful participation in it.  Was their joy in the resurrection necessarily dependent on their bodily vision of Him that was risen?  Would any diminution of their joy be justified if they had been bereft of that vision?  Do not we find quite the contrary in what happened to them?  You will remind me perhaps of S. John's saying: "Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the LORD" (S. John xx. 20.).  True: but did not the holy women earlier than these disciples rejoice with great joy, even before they had seen Him?  "And they departed quickly," says S. Matthew, "from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, and did run to bring His disciples word" (S. Matth. xxviii. 8.).  Thomas thought he had a right to demand ocular proof, and obtained it: true this caused him not only joy, but rapture; but was it however that particular vision which rendered him so peculiarly happy?  Very differently did He, Who granted that vision, judge of it Himself; He reproached Thomas for it, and blessed those who had not seen.  "Because thou hast seen, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (S. John xx. 29.).  And to be blessed is certainly something higher than transient rapture, something more perfect than joy.  And the Apostle Peter also, as an eye-witness of the risen LORD, and knowing the worth of that vision, nevertheless ascribes the highest degree of joy to those who believe, without having seen: "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls "(1 S. Pet. i. 8, 9.).

I trust then we have been able to prove in this way that the source of inward light and spiritual joy contained in the resurrection of CHRIST, is able to act upon us also with the same plentitude of power as it did on the witnesses and servants of the Word.  And if by their experience we are also shown that this joy not only remained with them, according to the promise given, "that no man should take it away," but for this same reason did also grow and perfect itself in them, then it is evident from this that it is not too much on our part to wish and require that this joy should not only not diminish in us, but ever increase, like the morning light, unto the full noon-tide of inward enlightenment by the HOLY GHOST, unto the eternal day of the kingdom of JESUS CHRIST.  Then let us take another glance at the experiences of the witnesses of CHRIST'S resurrection.

When, as the Evangelist informs us, "the disciples were glad when they saw the LORD," they then had not attained a high degree of joy, nor was their gladness perfect, for as another Evangelist adds, it was at first alloyed with unbelief, and required for its confirmation a still more palpable proof of the resurrection.  "And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, Have ye here any meat? and they gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.  And He took it, and did eat before them" (S. Luke xxiv. 41-43.).  But when they were separated from the LORD, "Who was carried up into heaven, and they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy"; then do you perceive that their joy had become much greater, much more exalted, and much more fervent than it had been before? for even the separation from the Author of that joy does not diminish it, but reveals it to be great – greater than before.  See at last how these same Apostles "departed from the presence of the council of the Jews, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name."  Behold a joy still greater, still more exalted, and one which indeed cannot be taken away, when neither enmity, nor persecution, nor shame, nor wounds could darken it.

Now I repeat my wish: Oh, that this day's joy may become to us the joy of our life, a joy ever increasing like the life of youth, and never waxing old, like heavenly life.

But, how, it will probably be asked, is this to be done?  How is it to be done?  What is one to do, that a joy, eternal in its essence, should not become short-lived?  What are we to do in order that a joy, endless and boundless in its results, should grow and increase on its way to its infinity and eternity?  Methinks the difficulty is not how to do this, but rather how to understand how it could be otherwise.  So not set yourselves against divine joy, do not reject, do not stifle it; it will of itself continue; it will increase and develope of itself, until finally it will change into bliss.

In the Book of the Prophet Joel there is a remarkable saying as to how men are bereft of joy, and how they expose themselves to grief and misfortune.  "The vine is dried up, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered, because joy is withered away from the sons of men" (Joel i. 12.).

Pure Joy is like unto a noble and chaste virgin, whose inseparable companion is a pure conscience, who associates only with those whose intentions are pure and exalted.  As soon as you allow yourselves to be betrayed into vicious deeds, idle or thoughtless words, impure or low intentions, her sensitive nature becomes aroused, her noble feelings are shocked, her chastity shamed, and she flees and hides herself from you.  If in her stead you court gross and foolish worldly pleasures, so much the worse for you.  Divine justice for the outrage against heavenly joy pronounces its curse against all the sources of earthly joy.  "The vine is dried up, and the fig-tree languisheth, the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered; because joy is withered away from the sons of men."

Sons of men, or rather sons of GOD in CHRIST, let us not dishonour this heavenly and divine joy by an unclean life, or by deeds of gross sensuality.  May GOD put gladness in our hearts more than that of those whose "corn and oil and wine increased," and may no man take away from us the joy in the risen and ever living JESUS CHRIST our LORD.  Amen.