The word "pascha" in Hebrew means "passing
over, deliverance." The Hebrews,
celebrating the Old Testament Passover, commemorated the miraculous exodus of
the Jews out of Egypt, when they crossed the parted Red Sea being
led by their great Prophet, the God-beholder Moses. They left the land of
slavery, Egypt, to enter into the Promised Land. Christians, celebrating
the New Testament Pascha, exult in the deliverance through Christ of all the
people from slavery to the devil and in the granting of life and everlasting
bliss. The Church sings of this in the canons when she sings: "From death
to life and from the earth to the Heavens has Christ God brought us."
Pascha is the essence of our faith, for Christ
rose from the dead, as we will rise from the dead. Pascha is the Feast of
feasts, the Triumph of triumphs and, therefore, the services of this feast are
exceptionally magnificent and especially triumphant.
The Resurrection of Christ was attested to by the
blood of the apostles and by the thousands upon thousands of martyrs. The
spiritual joy of Pascha is expressed in the victorious hymn: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon
those in the tomb bestowing life," and is felt in the heart of each
believer.
On Great and Holy Friday, in the ninth hour (about
three in the afternoon), Christ was crucified on the cross and gave up His
spirit to the Father. There were but a few who stood by the cross that day
weeping as Christ suffered and died: among those few were His young disciple
John, His Mother, and some other women followers. All the others had ran away in tears a long while back. When it was evening, a
rich man from Arimathea came along. His name was Joseph. He, too, was a
disciple of Jesus. This Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for the
body of Jesus. Pilate gave orders for the body to be given to him. Joseph took
the body, wrapped it in a new linen winding sheet, and placed it in his own
tomb, which he had just recently dug out of the rock. Then he rolled a large
stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary were sitting there, facing the tomb. The next day, Great and Holy
Saturday, the chief priests and the Pharisees met with Pilate and said:
"Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while he was yet alive, 'After
three days I will rise again.' Command therefore that the sepulcher be made secure
until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and
say unto the people, 'He is risen from the dead,' so
that the last error shall be worse than the first." Pilate said unto them,
"Ye have a watch. Go your way, make it as secure
as ye can." So they went and made the sepulcher secure,
sealing the stone and setting up a watch" (Matt. 27:57-66).
Commencing after midnight Saturday and continuing on into the next day (now known as
Sunday) the greatest and most joyous event the world has ever known happened.
The guard was standing at the grave, the large stone with the seal was intact
then, suddenly, the earth shook and our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of His
Divinity, raised Himself from the dead. Soon after this an angel came down from
Heaven and rolled away the stone from the entrance to the tomb and sat upon it.
The appearance of this angel was like lightning and his clothes were white as
snow. The soldiers guarding the tomb fell to the ground in terror, but they
soon got up and ran to tell the chief priests what had happened. The chief
priests gave the guards a large sum of money and said, "'Say ye, "His
disciples came by night and stole Him away while we slept." And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and
secure you.' So they took the money, and did as they were taught; and this
account is commonly reported among the Jews until this day" (Matt.
28:13-15).
Meanwhile, in the early morning, while it was
still dark, several pious women went hurrying to the tomb to anoint the body of
Christ with myrrh. They were not aware of the great event that had taken place,
nor even of the seal of the Sanhedrin, or of the
guards. Their worry was about who would roll away the heavy stone from the
tomb. Mary Magdalene reached the tomb first and, seeing that the stone had been
rolled away, ran to Peter and John saying: "They have taken away the Lord
out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid Him!" (John
20:2). Hearing this, Peter and John immediately ran to the grave with Mary
Magdalene. The rest of the myrrh-bearing women came to the grave and saw that
the stone had been rolled away. So they went in; but they did not find the body
of the Lord Jesus. They stood there uncertain about this, when suddenly two men
in bright shining clothes stood by them: Full of fear, the women bowed down to
the ground, as the men said to them: "Why seek ye the living among the
dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He
spoke unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the
hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again.' And they remembered His words, and returned from the sepulcher and
told all these things unto the eleven and to all the rest" (Luke 24: 1-9).
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