Χριστός Ανέστη! ("Christ is risen!")

    Hi everyone! I had a post planned for today, but it didn’t really match the theme of Easter / Christ’s resurrection at all, so I’ll publish it at a later date. Today, let’s celebrate the single event that marks the turning point of history, the beginning of the new creation, which secured the ultimate restoration of all of us – the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” (Mark 16:1–7)

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human, for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:20–28)

[Christ] is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:18–20)

[R]aising our Lord Jesus from the dead is more magnificent among the praises of God than the making of heaven and earth, the creating of angels, and the establishment of the heavenly powers. For the latter had to do with making what did not exist; the former, however, to restore what had perished... the restoration of the world and the renovation of the entire creation which has been re-established through the resurrection of the Lord. (Origen, Comm in Rom IV.7.3)

Χριστός ανέστη! Αληθώς ανέστη!

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