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HIEROTHEOS of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
Beloved brethren, Christ is Risen!
The
feast of the Resurrection of Christ, Pascha, is the central feast of
the entire ecclesiastical year and the last of the Triodion and
Great Lent, but also the beginning of another period that concludes
with the great feast of Pentecost. This feast we celebrate today as
well as throughout the entire period of the Pentecostarion, and
every Sunday which is dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ.
Many
events occurred on the first day of the Resurrection of Christ, as
well as the days that followed. Christ appeared to His
Disciples, who had prepared properly to see Him Risen and this
appearance contributed to their salvation.
On
the first day, late in the evening, the Risen Christ appeared to His
Disciples, although Thomas was absent, and the next Sunday
He appeared again to His Disciples in the Upper Room, with Thomas
present. The Apostle Thomas wanted to put his finger on the mark of
the nails and his hand on His side to be assured of His
Resurrection. It is known that the nails of the crucifixion
created wounds on the body of Christ and the lance opened His side
from which flowed blood and water. For Thomas to see the wounds
caused by the Cross and to touch them he considered it as an
assurance of His Resurrection.
Christ, by His appearance after eight days, invited the Apostle
Thomas to touch the wounds of His body and His side. This is the
extreme humility – emptying of Christ, to accept to be touched, as
well as His love towards man by satisfying all of his
sacred desires. This is why in a hymn of the Church it is written:
“Rejoice, investigator!”. In other words, Christ rejoices when we
investigate. As soon as the Apostle Thomas saw Christ and heard His
invitation to touch, he proclaimed: “My Lord and my God”
(Jn. 20:19-29). This is a confession of the divinity of Christ with
the vision of the Risen Body of Christ.
The
Gospel of John does not confirm whether the Apostle Thomas touched
the Risen Body of Christ, but it only records his confession.
However, in the hymns of the Church it is written that the Apostle
Thomas confessed Christ, since previously he had touched the wounds
of Christ created by the Cross. “Therefore, having touched and
beheld, he confessed that Thou art an unabstract God, and an
unsimple Man.” In another hymn it is written that the Apostle Thomas
by “touching the side theologized the One incarnate”. He recognized
that the Son of God suffered in the flesh and he preached the Risen
God. Thus, in Orthodox theology the vision and touching of God are
connected.
In
another hymn it is written that John, who leaned on the breast of
Christ, drew up from there the depth of theology, while Thomas was
made worthy of the mystery of the divine economy by touching, that
is, he came to know the mystery of the incarnation of Christ and he
initiated us into it. Again, in another hymn it is written that
Thomas, by putting his hand in the fiery side of Jesus Christ, was
not burned by the touch, but the unbelief of his soul changed to
verification.
The
desire of the Apostle Thomas to see and touch the wounds of the body
of Christ was not an unbelief in today's meaning of the word, but it
was his desire to go from faith by hearing to faith by seeing. He
did not only want to hear from the Disciples that Christ had risen,
but he wanted to see and verify the Resurrection with his senses.
This shows that the life of the Church is empirical, a spiritual
relationship, a touching of Christ.
The
Church is not an abstract system, but life in its fullest. Christ is
not imaginary, but the God-man who has a resurrected body, that
shines with the Light of Divinity and we have the ability to touch
Him. The Church is the Body of Christ, that consists of
its Mysteries, is expressed by its dogmas and sacred canons, and is
established by a particular ecclesiastical government. The theology
of the Church is empirical, it is “the mystery of the touch”.
We
commune of the Body of Christ, when we Clergy liturgize we hold it
in our hands. We kiss the Cross, the sacred relics of the Saints,
the sacred icons. And when a Christian prays with spiritual
strength, he touches eternity and participates in the glory of God.
My
beloved brethren,
The
Risen Christ is not a man who once lived, but He is the God-man who
is always with us. The Resurrection of Christ is not an event of the
past, but it is experienced within the life of the Church. We are
not people who believe in God only in theory, but we are members of
His Risen Body. Christ calls us to touch Him and we must respond to
this invitation. This is “the mystery of the touch”. The mystery of
divine communication.
I
wish you all many years and exclaim: “Christ is Risen”.
With
resurrectional paternal blessings,
The
Metropolitan
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HIEROTHEOS of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
Source:
https://thoughtsintrusive.wordpress.com
See also
ST. THOMAS SUNDAY (ANTIPASCHA) - BELIEF AND UNBELIEF
In the Steps of the Apostle Thomas - The Orthodox Church in West Bengal, India
The Lord’s Pascha
Why I'm not an atheist
The Way - An introduction to the Orthodox Faith
Father Moses Berry: From Hippie Bad-Boy Cool-Cat to Humble…
