The meaning of the expression tramples death by death: where does the phrase, text in the Bible, prayer come from

The meaning of the expression death trampling death is victory over death

Although the source of the phrase is not the Bible, the text of Scripture often revolves around this idea. Here, for example, is the Old Testament prophecy that the Savior will come and conquer death:

(Hos. 13, 14)

"Death! where is your sting? hell! where is your victory?

Why, in fact, defeat her? The answer to this question takes us deep into church homework. From the point of view of Orthodox teaching, a person became mortal after he ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Not everyone agrees with this idea, but it is on it that the idea that Christ conquered death is built.

Jesus Christ conquered death out of love for humanity.

Orthodox believe that the Savior came to abolish original sin and its consequences. Among the tasks of Jesus Christ is to defeat death.

Jesus Christ overcame death - that is, trampled on it

And this is done out of the great love of God, for:

(Ps. 33:22)

"The death of sinners is fierce"

To compensate for the damage Adam received from the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it is necessary, figuratively speaking, to taste the new fruit - righteousness and eternal life. The Apostle Paul tells us how to do this:

(1 Thess. 4, 13–15)

“I do not want to leave you, brothers, in ignorance about the dead, so that you do not grieve like others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

Holy Resurrection of Christ - Easter of the Lord

On April 19, 2021, all Orthodox Christians celebrate the Feast of Feasts and the Solemnity of Solemnities, joyfully proclaiming: “Christ is Risen!”

"Christ is risen from the dead"

“Thy Resurrection, O Christ the Savior, the angels sing in heaven, and grant us on earth to glorify You with a pure heart.”

“Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and giving life to those in the tombs.”

All Orthodox Christians know these two key Easter hymns - the stichera and troparion of the most important church holiday. Everyone who came to Easter Matins at least once in their lives, who went through a solemn religious procession around the temple on the brightest night of the year. “Bright” not in the sense of the northern “white nights,” but illuminated by the unearthly, gracious light of the Risen Christ.

Myrrh-Bearing Women. Photo: www.oopnm.ru

At these moments, we are not just in this or that city or village, and not just on April 19, 2021 (I hope, the only year when most Orthodox Christians will be deprived of the opportunity to pray in churches), but outside of time and space. Mysteriously, we are also in the Holy City of Jerusalem on that very day when none of Christ’s disciples knew that the Lord had risen from the dead, but only the Angels in Heaven glorified His Resurrection. And the very next day the holy myrrh-bearing women learned about this. This is how the Apostle-Evangelist Mark describes it in the Gospel:

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary of James and Salome bought spices to go and anoint Him. And very early, on the first day of the week, they come to the tomb, at sunrise, and say to each other: who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb? And, looking, they see that the stone has been rolled away; and he was very big. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in white clothing; and were horrified. He says to them: do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, crucified; He has risen, He is not here. This is the place where He was laid..."

And we today, so different and so identical in our Easter feelings, in some ways close to those holy women who were the first to learn about the Resurrection of Christ. And if someone did not observe Lent, then he should also be reminded of the words of St. John Chrysostom, which are read on this holy night. In his catechumen teaching, the great teacher of our Church says that without any doubt or fear everyone should enjoy this celebration:

Temperate and careless, honor the day! Those who have fasted and those who have not fasted, rejoice today! The meal is full of food! Enjoy everyone! Taurus is huge: let no one leave hungry! Everyone, enjoy the wealth of goodness! Let no one cry from poverty, because the common kingdom has appeared! Let no one mourn for sins: forgiveness has risen from the grave! Let no one fear death, because the death of the Savior freed us!

“Trampling death upon death and giving life to those in the tombs”

Photo: 5ph/www.shutterstock.com

The whole meaning of the Lord's Easter lies in Victory over death. Almost every family decides to paint Easter eggs, but not everyone has thought about the symbolism of this ancient custom. But an ordinary chicken egg in itself symbolizes the coffin and resurrection. Well, the red color, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s deep scarlet from aniline dyes or orange-purple from onion peels, is the Blood of the Crucified Christ. And, of course, one cannot help but recall the legend of how Saint Mary Magdalene presented Emperor Tiberius with an Easter egg with the words “Christ is Risen!” According to one version of this legend, the egg itself turned red when the pagan emperor doubted the Miracle of Christ's Resurrection.

Photo: www.pravoslavie.ru

Easter is an opportunity to feel that there is no death

It was the Savior’s death on the cross that atoned for the sins of all people. And when we see in the icon of Christ, who descends into hell and saves our ancestors Adam and Eve from there, we must understand the whole deep meaning of this image. After all, even the Old Testament righteous, because of the fall of their forefathers, were in hell before the Resurrection of Christ, and it was the Savior, “who gave life to those in the tombs,” who gave eternal life to all those who had previously died. And today every Christian must remember that there is no death, that earthly dying is the beginning of eternal life. Probably, a contemporary of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, Metropolitan Nikolai (Yarushevich) of Krutitsky and Kolomna, said this better than many other preachers in one of his sermons in 1946:

There is no death, but one must prepare for death all one’s life, because death is the door to eternity. What a great, incomparable happiness this is - our immortality! Saint Gregory the Theologian, discussing immortality in one of his sermons, says: “My spirit freezes when I imagine the endless future that lies before me.”

And here it is very important to remember that the most important thing for which we must prepare throughout our lives is the salvation of our souls and their union with God. This is precisely what lies not just the key, but the only meaning of the earthly life of every Christian. Life, the center of which is today's Holiday.

Congratulations to Orthodox Christians on the Bright Resurrection of Christ - the Easter of the Lord! Christ is Risen!

Christ trampled death at least 6 times

It is curious that Jesus Christ trampled death not just once, but no less than six times.

When he resurrected the boy . The Gospel of Luke tells us this:

(7:14–15)

“And he approached and touched the bed; those carrying them stopped, and He said: young man! I'm telling you, get up! The dead man got up, sat down and began to speak; And Jesus gave him to his mother."

When he resurrected the girl . We also give a version from the Gospel of Luke:

(8:52–56)

“Everyone cried and cried for her. But He said: do not cry; she is not dead, but she is sleeping. And they laughed at Him, knowing that she had died. He, sending everyone out and taking her by the hand, exclaimed: maiden! stand up. And her spirit returned; She immediately stood up, and He ordered that she be given something to eat. And her parents were surprised. He ordered them not to tell anyone about what had happened.”

Jesus Christ resurrects a girl, showing his power over death

When he raised Lazarus . Let us quote the Gospel of John:

(11:38–44)

“Jesus, again grieving inwardly, comes to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay on it. Jesus says: take away the stone. The sister of the deceased, Martha, said to Him: Lord! already stinks; for he has been in the tomb for four days. Jesus says to her: Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? So they took the stone away from the cave where the dead man lay. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said: Father! I thank You that You heard Me. I knew that You would always hear Me; but I said this for the sake of the people standing here, so that they might believe that You sent Me. Having said this, He cried out with a loud voice: Lazarus! get out. And the dead man came out, entwined on his hands and feet with burial cloths, and his face was tied with a scarf. Jesus says to them: Untie him, let him go."

man resurrected so many, according to the Gospel

When he was resurrected . According to human ideas, Jesus Christ died (at least this is the canonical Orthodox version, and we will not consider others). Jesus was supposed to remain in the next world, but He crossed the line of death in the opposite direction and appeared to His disciples.
When he opened the gates of hell . There is no such story in Scripture. But Tradition reports that Jesus Christ did not rise immediately after death, but went to hell to bring some dead people out of there. Who exactly is the perfect question for endless debate. Nothing is said about this anywhere, so there is no correct opinion.

The very plot of Christ descending into hell is based on Old Testament prophecies:

(Hos. 13:14)

“I will redeem them from the power of hell, I will deliver them from death. Death! where is your sting? hell! where is your victory?

(Ps. 23:7)

“Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in!”

It must be admitted that the prophecies themselves clearly have roots in the Akkadian tradition, but still this dogma has a huge number of adherents in the Christian world.

There is a dogma that the Savior brought souls out of hell, but whose exactly is not clear

When he gave the world hope for life after death . According to Orthodox beliefs, previously there was no hope for life after death. Only Christ, when he took upon himself punishment for human sins, opened the way to heaven for those who repented. Death no longer threatens them, since it is defeated by the death of Christ.

Christ calls not to fear bodily death, but to fear spiritual death:

(Matthew 10:28)

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but fear Him more who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.”

Priest Afanasy Gumerov says:

“There is a law in the spiritual world: sin removes a person from God and makes him a captive of the devil. “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Our salvation, which Jesus Christ accomplished, lies in the fact that He, God incarnate, without even a shadow of sin, took upon Himself the sins of all people and for them offered an atoning Sacrifice on the Cross. Victory over death occurred at the moment when the Savior of the world died on the Cross. “When Jesus tasted the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!” And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30). St. also says that it was through death that the Lord gained victory over death. Apostle Paul: “And just as the children share in flesh and blood, He also took part in the same, so that by death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). This dogmatic truth is expressed in the Paschal troparion: “trampling down death by death.”

According to Christian dogma, Jesus went down to hell for the righteous

PORTAL CONTACTS

The day is already very close when our hearts will be filled with the song of the Resurrection: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs...”. But do we fully understand what it means for us—Christ’s victory over death? Let's talk about it with Archpriest Vladimir Parkhomenko, rector of the church in the name of the great martyr and healer Panteleimon in Ust-Kurdyum, confessor and teacher at the Saratov Orthodox Theological Seminary, confessor of the Saratov diocese.

— Father Vladimir, Easter is the most joyful of holidays, the pinnacle of that joy that, according to the word of Christ (see: John 16:22), no one can take away from us.
But this joy is not euphoria. Death has been defeated, but it has not left our world, it steadily continues to gather its harvest, it remains a tragedy - after all, Christ cried over the dead Lazarus... - Does the Gospel say - he cried? It says there: he shed tears (John 11:35 ). And just above (33) it is said that He was grieved in spirit and indignant when he saw Mary crying over her brother and the Jews weeping with her. But He Himself never shed tears over Lazarus! He did not tear His clothes and did not sprinkle ashes on His head, as was customary among the Jews. John Chrysostom once wrote that he would excommunicate from the Church anyone who grieved over the deceased as a pagan. What does it mean - like a pagan? Without hope. Just then, in Constantinople, the ancient pagan custom began to be revived of inviting professional mourners to the burial, who with their cries were supposed to lead the relatives of the deceased into ecstasy, even drive one of them to suicide - “to leave with him.” And so, the saint says: by this rite you show disbelief in Christ, in His victory over death.

Yes, death is always a grief, always a terrible blow, a shock for those who loved the departed: and Christ as a Man knows this, and the pain of Lazarus’s loved ones does not leave Him indifferent. But there should be no despair, no hopelessness. Our trouble is the weakness of faith. Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann wrote in his diaries that the problem of modern Christians is that they believe in the Resurrection of Christ, in the fact that death no longer has power over us - only with the mind, that is, theoretically, but not with the heart.

The Holy Fathers teach that Christians are people who have already been resurrected in soul: in the Sacrament of Baptism, a person is resurrected from spiritual death and experiences his resurrection experientially. And on the Last Day, which the Savior repeatedly speaks about in the Gospel, a person will be resurrected in body as well. But already during earthly life, a soul sanctified by grace, burning with love for God, makes the body capable of incorruption; an example is the fragrant relics of saints.

…Christ rose from the dead, the firstborn of those who died,” wrote the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 15 :20-22), “For as death came through man, so through man came the resurrection of the dead.” Just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Why does he call Christ the firstborn of those who died? People rose from the dead even before Christ: the prophet Elijah raised the son of the Sarepta widow, the prophet Elisha the son of the Shunammite woman, Christ brought back to life the daughter of Jairus (see: Mark 5 , 35-43) and the son of the widow from Nain (see: Lk. 7 , 11-15). But His Resurrection is fundamentally different from these resurrections; He is the only one whom we call the Conqueror of death. After all, those resurrected remained subject to death, and eventually died anyway; and Christ, having risen, conquered death. Christ, having risen from the dead, no longer dies: death no longer has power over Him, writes the Apostle Paul in chapter 6 of the Epistle to the Romans (9).

Therefore, it does not control us either. In the same chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, the apostle explains that Christians, by being baptized into Christ, participate in His resurrection: Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life (3-4).

- But why was defeated death allowed to be present in the world, why was it given power, albeit temporary, but still over us?

- The definition of God given to Adam - you will return to the ground from which you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you will return (Gen. 3:19 ) - has not been canceled. It will be canceled only after the Second Coming of Christ and after the resurrection of all the dead. For today's man, mortality is a mercy, the holy fathers write about this. Why mercy? Because for a spiritual, religious life, a person needs to understand the finitude of his earthly existence. From my priestly experience, I can say that the mass of people came to faith and the Church, thinking about the meaning of life; and the awareness of its finitude helped them think about the meaning of life. Death awakens a person from spiritual sleep. The Holy Fathers say that death stops sin and lawlessness; it reminds us that sin is followed by retribution. Death as a means of holding a person remains until God changes the existence of the world.

— The author of an atheistic book from the 70s asked a thoughtful question, as it probably seemed to him: if God is omnipotent, why couldn’t He defeat death and save a person in some other, painless way, without exposing His own Son to terrible torment? How to answer?

“The “painless method” is impossible in this case because man, God’s greatest creation, possesses such a trait of God-likeness as free will. A person cannot be saved automatically. Salvation is the free return of a fallen person to God. The Holy Fathers say that God chose the most effective possible way of saving man: by showing him His sacrificial love, loving His beings in the world to the end (John 13 :1), He thus calls man to Himself. The Savior goes to the last limit - to abandonment and death - and after that no one will be able to say that man is indifferent to God.

In addition, even in paganism, the concept of the sanctifying power of sacrifice was intuitively felt: in order to overcome something, one must sacrifice something. In the Old Testament, this concept was formulated and reinforced by the requirements of the Law received by Moses from God on Mount Sinai; and at the heart of Christianity is the concept of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross made for us; without this sanctifying power our salvation would also be impossible.

— Sometimes people ask: how is it possible for a person to be resurrected in the flesh if dead flesh in the earth decays and is destroyed?

“The holy fathers have the idea that on the last day the soul will feel the particles of its destroyed body and collect it. Although, of course, we do not know the “technology” of this process. We know that for God everything is possible, and for Him there is no difficulty in restoring the bodily man. This will be the body - the same one that a person wore during earthly life, but which has changed its properties. It will not be old, decrepit, even if the person died in extreme old age. It will be material, just as the body of the risen Christ was material, but at the same time spiritualized, it will acquire those properties and qualities that it did not have during earthly life. In part, we see these properties of renewed flesh in the risen Christ. But the body of the resurrected man, as the holy fathers claim, will be affected by those qualities that distinguished him on earth: the bodies of the righteous will begin to emit Divine light, and the bodies of unrepentant sinners will be dark.

- Where is the soul of the deceased located, in what state is it, since the general resurrection has not yet occurred? Can we now hope that the soul of the righteous, the soul of the martyr, remains in bliss?

— Until the resurrection occurs, we pray: rest, O Lord, the souls of your departed servants. Not just “Thy servant,” but precisely their souls. The soul - the non-destroyable part of the deceased, that is, a destroyed person - left without its body, loses all power over itself and all possibility of choice. And there are places - of course, not in the topographical sense of the word - where there is no current time and where the souls of people who have completed their earthly journey reside. The Apocalypse reveals to us that these places are different: there are souls who are at the very throne of God in anticipation of bliss (a soul deprived of a body cannot fully taste this bliss), and there are those who have gone down very deeply: let us remember the parable of richer and Lazarus (see: Luke 16 , 19-31). Finally, there are areas where souls remain who are not enlightened by the light of Divine truth and who have never come to know Christ.

— The fate of all these souls has not been finally decided? Otherwise we would not pray for the dead...

- Of course, this is the meaning of church prayer for the dead. They themselves can no longer change their fate, but with our prayer we can contribute to their salvation for eternal life. As for souls who are far from God, we are not talking about hell, no: hell, as a place of eternal destruction, will open and close its terrible doors only after the second coming and the Last Judgment: And these will go away into eternal torment, but the righteous into eternal life (Matt. 25 , 46). And then the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven will open, the same one about which Christ spoke: come, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world (Matthew 25:34 ).

Trample death by trampling death - the central idea of the popular akathist

Of course, such a deep philosophical thought could not remain within the framework of one troparion. It was developed in the form of one of the most popular akathists, “Akathist to the Resurrection of Christ (other)”:

Kontakion 1

Chosen Voivode, Lord of Heaven and earth, we offer victorious songs of thanksgiving to You, Your servants, who have now descended into hell and resurrected everything with You, and we celebrate our deliverance with a bright cry: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Ikos 1

The Angel of the Lord, on the Sabbath evening, descended from Heaven in a great coward, rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb of Jesus and sat on it. From his fear the guards shook and were as if dead. We worship the Risen Living God with the myrrh-bearers and preach the secret Pascha, crying out: Christ is risen, and the princes of hell have fallen. Christ is risen, and fears the gates of hell. Christ is risen, and the gates of brass are broken. Christ is risen, and the strongholds of hell are laid waste. Christ is risen, and death weeps. Christ is risen, and hell, groaning, cries out: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Kontakion 2

Mary Magdalene, and Mary of James, and Salome saw the young man in the tomb of Jesus, dressed in white clothing and sitting on his gums, being horrified. He said to them: “Are you looking for Jesus Crucified? There is no voice here, as it is spoken. Come, see the place where the Lord lies, and as you go quickly cry out as His disciple: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.”

Ikos 2

The unreasonable mind, searching for understanding, Peter and the other disciple went to the tomb and, having entered it, seeing one robe lying and the sir, who was on the head of Jesus, not lying with the robe, but an individual retinue in one place, and having believed, he cried out with joy: Christ is risen, and all creation rejoices. Christ is risen, let heaven rejoice. Christ is risen, and the Angels rejoice for us. Christ is risen, and the underworld is enlightened. Christ is risen, let us exclaim with joy, having been saved from death. Sing to the Lord, all the earth: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Kontakion 3

The Lord endowed His disciples with power from above after the Resurrection. And when they went to Galilee, to the mountain, Jesus commanded them, and Jesus said to those who came to them: “To Me is all power in Heaven and on earth. So as you go, teach all languages, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that are commanded to you.” Tiy bowed to Him, calling: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Ikos 3

Having in her heart love for the Teacher, Mary Magdalene, standing outside the tomb, weeping and seeing Him risen from the dead, like a heli-climber, asked: “If You took Him, tell me where You laid Him, and I will take Him.” Moreover, above all hope, having heard: “Mary, I ascend to my Father and your Father and my God and your God,” I came to the disciples, saying: Christ is risen, and the sting of sin has been dulled. Christ is risen, and the world is saved from the flood of sin. Christ is risen, and we are freed from working for the enemy. Christ is risen, and the deception of the devil has been abolished. Christ is risen, and the handwriting that was on us has been blotted out. Christ is risen, and all creation is renewed, calling: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Kontakion 4

Having a storm of doubtful thoughts within, Thomas the disciple spoke as if he had seen the Lord, saying to them: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hand, and put my finger into the marks of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I have no faith,” but having become convinced , cry out with joy: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Ikos 4

Hearing Thomas the disciple see the Lord, and wanting to see Him with his eyes, he said: “I have no faith.” After eight days Jesus came with the door closed, standing in the midst of the disciple and saying to Thomas: “Bring this finger to My hand, and look upon My hand, and bring your hand and place it in My side: and be not unfaithful, but faithful.” And Thomas answered and said: Christ is risen, You are my Lord. Christ is risen, You are my God. Christ is risen, and all incorruption and life have been received. Christ is risen and risen from the dead. Christ is risen, and we will be delivered from condemnation and torment. Christ is risen, and life has risen from the grave to the world who sings: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Kontakion 5

The deities were not scorched by fire; Thomas boldly touched the rib of Spasovo. Moreover, be enlightened by God, having become incarnate for our salvation and again with the resurrected flesh, having come to know. By the same unbelief, the blessed twin affirms the church faith, even as he confesses in accordance with the cry: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Ikos 5

Having seen Jesus risen, the disciples were afraid, afraid to see the spirit. Jesus, however, assure them by showing them His hand and nose and ribs, the same fish were baked and poisoned from the honeycombs of the bees before them. Thus, having become confident and putting aside our fear and sorrow, we girdle in joy: Christ is risen, we will accept the worst, and give us the best. Christ is risen, and hell has been put to death by the brilliance of His Divinity. Christ is risen, and the darkness is destroyed, and the dark demons are driven away. Christ is risen, and human nature, corrupted by passions, has been renewed. Christ is risen, and our iniquities have been cleansed. Christ is risen, and we, having put on incorruption, offer this song to Him: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Mary Magdalene was the first to meet the risen Christ

Kontakion 6

Sending preachers into the world after Thy Resurrection, Thy God-bearing apostles, O Christ, Thou didst proclaim to them, blowing: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Forgive their sins, their sins will be forgiven; and they hold on, they hold on.” In the same way, grant that to this day, throughout the entire world, the children of the Church, who have been absolved from their sins, constantly glorify Your mercy and with pure souls sing in joy: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Ikos 6

Thou hast shone forth, O Christ, and in the dark reaches of hell the light of Thy Resurrection, forgiveness and weakness, and the gospel of deliverance, Omni-merciful, to the souls contained there from eternity. Moreover, from the serpent, the murderer, we are despoiled, playfully, rushing towards Your light, singing: Christ is risen, and our bonds are torn to pieces. Christ is risen, and the shadow of death is transformed into eternal life. Christ is risen, and the power of death will no longer be able to hold a person. Christ is risen, and the tormenting insolence is cast down. Christ is risen, and we have been given heaven instead of hell to live. Christ is risen, and the world sings evermore: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Kontakion 7

Although you wanted to serve the fallen Adam, our Savior, you appeared on earth, and you did not find it on earth, you even descended to hell in search, and, having met you down in the depths of the earth, you sing with all those who are being saved: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and gave life to those in the tombs.

Ikos 7

You laid the foundation for new life in the world, O Lord, with Your glorious Resurrection. The old thing is all past: hell, death, and the power of the devil. Now all creation is known, and before they were darkened, now like the sons of God, they rejoice, singing: Christ is risen, having poured out an abyss of mercy and bounty on our race. Christ is risen, raising us with Himself into the pit of those who fell. Christ is risen, and we will be delivered from the snares of demons. Christ is risen, and the sorrow of sin has been transformed into the sweetness of heavenly life. Christ is risen, and the tree of slaying came to life. Christ is risen, and He has raised us to our former state, so we call: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Kontakion 8

Wandering with Cleopas and Luke all over, six to ten furlongs from Jerusalem, and not being known by him, you, O Savior, reviled their unbelief and hard-heartedness, saying: “Isn’t this fitting for Christ to suffer and bring into His glory?” And, beginning from Moses and being a prophet from all, you taught them to sing: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Ikos 8

You gave everything to Yourself, being God and perfect man, O Savior, to your two disciples in Emmaus; My eyes were dumb and opened, and I knew You, but You were invisible to me, and I cried to myself: Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and expose the devil's flattery. Christ is risen, and the idol's sacrifice ceases. Christ is risen, and the whole earth offers Him a sacrifice of praise. Christ is risen, and we, having tasted the unheard food of old, now taste eternal food. Christ is risen, and we are partakers of everlasting joy, singing: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Kontakion 9

All the Angels, O Christ the Savior, are singing your Resurrection in heaven. Grant us also on earth with a pure heart to sing in joy: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Ikos 9

Beth the world and teacher of languages Paul, the God-speaking one, cries out like a trumpet: “Christ is risen from the dead, The firstfruits of the rising of the dead. Just as in Adam everyone dies, so in Christ everyone will come to life.” Moreover, having seen the Resurrection of Christ, we cry out in joy: Christ is risen, and the prince of the world is cast down. Christ is risen, and the underworld trembles. Christ is risen, and death was sacrificed in victory. Christ is risen, and hell was captured by His power. Christ is risen, and we are freed from the indestructible bonds of hell. Christ is risen, and we, having been delivered from incorruption, are sons of the resurrection, appearing, and we sing: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Kontakion 10

Although you endured crucifixion and death to save the human race from the work of the enemy, O Lord, having been buried, you rose from the dead on the third day. The same Angel, shining in the tomb, preaches the good news to the women, saying: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Ikos 10

The third after the Resurrection, Jesus appeared on the sea of Tiberias, fishing for Simon Peter, and Thomas, and Nathanael, and the son of Zebedee from His disciples and, as the Lord of all, commands me to place the ship on the right hand, and the word will be done soon, and there will be many fish multitude, and a strange supper is ready upon the earth. Now let us also mentally enjoy it, O Lord, when we sing: Christ is risen, and to Him has been given power in heaven and on earth. Christ is risen and the Kingdom of God is here. Christ is risen, and His Body, like the Bread of Life, is acceptable to all. Christ is risen, and we taste His Blood, as the Immortal Source. Christ is risen, and Adam, free, rejoices with us. Christ is risen, and Eve, having been delivered from her bonds, rejoices, calling: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Kontakion 11

The song of all-contrition is offered to the Risen One, Peter, for I have thrashed for having denied You, and thrashed and confessed: “Lord, You weigh all, You weigh, because I love You.” Thresh and hear from You the sweetest calling to the flock: “Feed My lambs, feed My sheep.” In the same way he calls: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Ikos 11

Light to the Giver, like the sun, you shone for three days from the grave and enlightened everything with the light of true knowledge of God. In the same way, let us sit in the darkness of unbelief and doubt with the apostles, for we are the Lord, and we are no longer tormented: “Who are you?” But the Risen One is glorifying; in tenderness we call: Christ is risen, and enlighten all things with His Resurrection. Christ is risen, and eternal light has risen in the darkness and shadow of death to those who sit. Christ is risen, and He has given to the faithful the radiance that secretly overshadows the Spirit from above. Christ is risen, and the spiritual tow was opened before the blind. Christ is risen, and we know the Father of lights. Christ is risen, let all who have rejected the Lord of glory be put to shame and sing with us: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Kontakion 12

By Your grace, showing every person the most convenient path of salvation, O Christ, You spoke to Simon Peter: “When you are old, you lift up your hands, and He will girdle you and lead you, even if you did not want to,” signifying by which death He will glorify God. You commanded your beloved disciple to remain until you arrive. Moreover, even though the apostles were separated, they are still bound by a union of love, according to the hymn: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Ikos 12

Singing Your three-day Resurrection, O Christ, we rejoice in Your immutable promise. You promised to be with us until the end of the century, delivering us from all evil and guiding us to eternal life. For this reason, glorifying Thee, we cry out: Christ is risen, and we are now freed from all harm. Christ is risen, and has seated us at the right hand of the Father with Himself. Christ is risen, and has made us partakers of His eternal glory. Christ is risen, and the strong enemy who crushed the forefather of old has been crushed. Christ is risen, and with the Angels we, before abandonment, are established. Christ is risen, and with Him He will resurrect everything, calling: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

Kontakion 13

O great and most sacred Easter, Christ Jesus our Savior, we gratefully confess Your great saving mercy, as You have again made us, unworthy, worthy to taste the joy of Your Bright Resurrection. Grant us, in the eternal days of Your Kingdom, more truly and more perfectly than You, the Sweetest, to partake of communion, so that with the Angels and all the saints forever and ever we may sing joyfully: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

(This kontakion is read three times, then ikos 1 and kontakion 1)

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Christ is Risen!

Christ rose from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.

“Christ rose from the dead, trampling down death with death and giving life to the dead.”

Troparion of the holiday

The holiday of the Resurrection of Christ is called Easter after the Old Testament holiday established in memory of the deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian slavery. In accordance with the event of the Resurrection of Christ, remembered on this holiday, the name Easter in the Christian Church received a special meaning and began to mean the transition from death to life, from earth to heaven. “The word Easter,” says Saint Ambrose of Milan, “means passing. This holiday, the most solemn of holidays, was named so in the Old Testament Church - in remembrance of the exodus of the sons of Israel from Egypt and at the same time their deliverance from slavery, and in the New Testament Church - as a sign that the Son of God Himself, through the Resurrection from the dead, came from this world to the Heavenly Father, from earth to heaven, freeing us from eternal death and the work of the enemy and giving us “the power to be children of God”

(John 1:12).”

In the series of the Lord's holidays, the Easter holiday occupies a central place, and in the series of all Christian holidays it “exceeds all celebrations, even those of Christ and those celebrated in honor of Christ, as much as the sun surpasses the stars.”

All services and church rituals of this holiday are especially solemn and imbued with one feeling of joy about the Risen One.

Long before midnight, believers in bright, festive clothes flock to the temple and reverently await the upcoming Easter Celebration. The clergy are clothed in all the most holy dignity. Just before midnight, a solemn bell announces the onset of the great minute of the Luminous Feast of the Resurrection of Christ. The priests with the cross, lamps and incense come from the altar and together with the people, like the myrrh-bearers who went to the grave in the morning, walk around the circle of the church singing “Thy Resurrection, O Christ the Savior, the angels sing in heaven, and make us on earth worthy of You with a pure heart.” glorify." At this time, from the height of the bell tower, as if from heaven, the jubilant Easter peal is pouring. All worshipers walk with lit candles, thereby expressing the spiritual joy of the Luminous Holiday.

The procession stops at the closed western gates of the temple, as if at the doors of the tomb of Christ. And here, according to the usual cry, the priest, like the Angel who announced to the myrrh-bearers at the tomb about the Resurrection of Christ, is the first to proclaim a joyful song: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and giving life to those in the tombs.” This song is repeated three times by the clergy and the choir.

Then the primate proclaims the verses of the ancient prophecy of the holy King David: “May God rise again and let his enemies be scattered…”, and all the people (choir) in response to each verse sing: “Christ is risen from the dead...”

Finally, the primate, holding a cross with a three-branched candlestick in his hands, with their movement draws the sign of the cross against the closed doors of the temple, they open, and the jubilant host, like the myrrh-bearers once to the apostles, enters the church, flooded with the light of all the lamps and lamps, and resounds with the song: “ Christ is risen from the dead!”

The subsequent service of Easter Matins consists of the singing of the canon composed by St. John of Damascus. The songs of this canon are separated by repeated “Christ is risen from the dead!” During the singing of the canon, the clergy with a cross and censer, preceded by lamps, go around the entire church, filling it with incense, and joyfully greet everyone with the words: “Christ is Risen,” to which the believers joyfully answer: “Truly He is Risen!” The repeated departures of the clergy from the altar remind us of the frequent appearances of the Lord to His disciples after the resurrection.

At the end of Matins, after singing: “Let us embrace each other, shouting: brethren! And we will forgive all those who hate us through the resurrection” - all believers begin to greet each other. The joyful Easter greeting reminds us of the state of the apostles in which, when the news of the Resurrection of Christ suddenly broke, they said to each other with amazement and delight: “Christ is risen!” and answered: “Truly he is risen!” Mutual kissing is an expression of love and reconciliation with each other, in memory of our universal forgiveness and reconciliation with God through the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Then the word of John Chrysostom is read.

After Matins, the Hours and Liturgy are immediately performed, with the Royal Doors open, which are open from the beginning of Matins and are not closed for a whole week as a sign that Jesus Christ has forever opened the gates of the Heavenly Kingdom for us. At the Liturgy, the first beginning of the Gospel of John the Theologian is read, beginning with the words “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...”, which depicts the Divinity of our Redeemer. If the Liturgy is celebrated by a council of priests, then the Gospel is read in different languages, as a sign that “a message has gone out” about the Lord to all peoples on earth.

Special Easter rituals include the blessing of the artos, “in honor and glory and remembrance of the glorious Resurrection” of our Lord Jesus Christ. The name artos means a prosphora with an image of a cross crowned with thorns on it, as a sign of Christ’s victory over death, or with an image of the Resurrection of Christ. The word "artos" is Greek; Translated into Russian it means “bread”. The historical origin of artos is as follows.

The apostles, accustomed to eating a meal with the Risen Lord, after His Ascension into heaven, remembering His cherished words: “I am with you all the days,” felt with a living faith the invisible presence of the Lord in their meetings. When starting the meal, they left unoccupied the place where Jesus Christ reclined with them, and on the table opposite that place they placed, as if for Him, a piece of bread, and each time at the end of the meal, giving thanks to God, they raised this piece of bread, saying: “Christ is risen.” When later the disciples of Jesus Christ went to different countries to preach the Gospel, they, if possible, tried to observe this custom: each of the holy apostles, no matter what country he was in, in the new society of followers of Christ, starting a meal, left a place and part of the bread in honor of the Savior, and at the end of the meal, together with them, he glorified the Risen Lord, raising part of the bread laid in memory of Him. This is how this custom was preserved in the Church and, after a number of centuries, has reached our time. The artos, placed on Holy Pascha in the church before the eyes of the believers, should serve as a reminder of the invisible presence of the Risen Lord with us.

At the same time, artos reminds that Jesus Christ, by death on the cross and resurrection, became the true bread of animals. This meaning of artos is revealed in the prayer for its consecration. In addition, in this prayer, the priest, invoking God’s blessing on the consecrated artos, asks the Lord to heal every ailment and illness and give health to all who partake of the artos.

"The Law of God", publishing house "New Book"

TEMPLE OF VLADIMIR THE HOLY MARTYR

Easter of Christ.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Christ is Risen!

Saint John Chrysostom reminds us every Easter night of Christ’s parable about the workers hired in the vineyard (Matt. 20.1-16). He tells us again and again that whenever the call of our God finds us, in old age or in the prime of life, the “curious Master” is waiting for everyone and always. For everyone and always, whether he endured the sorrows and heat of the day's work or appeared only in the evening of his age, an incomparable reward is prepared - a denarius of the Kingdom, the gift of Eternal Life! And if we had a childlike, trusting faith, there would not be people in the whole wide world happier and calmer than us: our God has given us forgiveness - what more could we wish for, what else should we be afraid of? Our Savior atoned for our sins—why should we cry, why should we be despondent? Death itself no longer has power over us - who can enslave us? The gift is offered, the problem is how to accept it.

How long did the apostles doubt! For how long we couldn’t believe our eyes and ears! They, like us, knew that it was dangerous to trust personal experience. They, like us, knew how often a person’s own feelings deceive him. It took indisputable evidence, multiple appearances of the risen Lord, so that fear and suspicion were replaced by jubilation and hope, so that joy replaced fear, so that not only doors were opened, carefully locked “for the sake of the fear of the Jews” (John 19.19), but hearts were opened freely and boldly, ready contain the whole world! For these people, overtaken by the joy of eternal life, enemies, foes, pagans, strangers suddenly disappeared somewhere - the whole world became family and loved ones for them. The whole world became theirs for them, because now it truly was the world of God! Because it became obvious to them what was later formulated by the Apostle Paul: the Kingdom of God is a place where there are no enemies, no sickness, no sorrows, no sorrow, “there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3.11)!

Only after the resurrection of Christ was an amazing truth about God revealed to humanity: He is not just a Creator who created the universe for some unknown purpose, He is not only a Judge, rewarding “everyone according to his deeds” (Rom. 2.6), but “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3.16,17). And the world understood that God is first and foremost Love (1.John 4.8). Because God loves “those who labor and are heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28), those who weep and mourn, the meek and the persecuted, He loves those whom no one loves. He loves those who are not worthy of love. Our God loves the one who betrayed Him, He does not take revenge, does not reward “just what he deserves,” but only asks the traitor: “Simon the Jonah! do you love me?" (John 21.16). Our God asks for reciprocal love!

And if this is so, then God, the One who, by definition, does not need anything or anyone, because he has the absolute fullness of being, for “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1. John 1.5) , then our God in some incomprehensible way needs a person, his faith, his love, his devotion. And this means that there is no insurmountable barrier between the Holy and Eternal God and sinful man!

And all this because the Son of God became incarnate for the sake of man. And all this because the Son of God died a terrible death on the Cross “for our salvation.” And all this because the Son of God plunged into the hell of God-forsakenness, which forced Him to cry out in inescapable anguish: “My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27.46). He entered this abyss of despair, and the darkness was filled with Light, and hell collapsed! It collapsed because hell is a place where there is no God, where there is no hope, where, as in a “black hole,” existence itself disappears, hell, which had triumphed in the world since the fall of our ancestors, turned out, according to the words of John Chrysostom, to be disgraced and destroyed ! He was “disgraced and destroyed” by an unthinkable event: the descent into this region of godless despair of the One whom death could not hold in its greedy embrace! And, both on the first day of creation, when “God said: let there be light” (Gen. 1.3), and at the moment of the Savior’s death on the cross, when, it would seem, the devil could already triumph in his final victory, the darkness of eternal death permeated the stream of the divine Light, and where despair reigned, Love reigned!

That is why, on this bright Easter night, in different languages, in all parts of the world, the wondrous words of the Apostle of Love, Saint John the Theologian, are heard: “In Him was life, and life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1.4,5). The darkness did not overtake the world, living in hope, because “Christus resurrexit!”, as testified by the countless hosts of martyrs who accepted death in the circuses and on the lists of Rome for the confession of the risen Christ. She didn’t embrace it - because “Χρίστός ανεςτη!”, as our Orthodox parents, the Greeks, taught us when they brought the light of the faith of Christ to the land of our ancestors. It did not comprehend - because “Christ is risen,” as we proclaim today, knowing that truly “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it”!

Christ is Risen!

Easter of Christ.

May 5, 2002

Orthodox Life

Orthodoxy and modernity

The day is already very close when our hearts will be filled with the song of the Resurrection, but do we fully understand what Christ’s victory over death means for us?

Conversation with Archpriest Vladimir Parkhomenko.

— Father Vladimir, Easter is the most joyful of holidays, the pinnacle of that joy that, according to the word of Christ (see: John 16:22), no one can take away from us. But this joy is not euphoria. Death has been defeated, but it has not left our world, it steadily continues to gather its harvest, it remains a tragedy - after all, Christ cried over the dead Lazarus...

- Does the Gospel say that he cried? It says: “he shed tears” (John 11:35). And just above (33) it is said that He was “grieved in spirit and indignant” when he saw Mary crying over her brother and the Jews weeping with her. But He Himself never shed tears over Lazarus! He did not tear His clothes and did not sprinkle ashes on His head, as was customary among the Jews. John Chrysostom once wrote that he would excommunicate from the Church anyone who grieved over the deceased as a pagan. What does it mean - like a pagan? Without hope. Just then, in Constantinople, the ancient pagan custom began to be revived of inviting professional mourners to the burial, who with their cries were supposed to lead the relatives of the deceased into ecstasy, even drive one of them to suicide - “to leave with him.” And so, the saint says: by this rite you show disbelief in Christ, in His victory over death.

“...Christ rose from the dead, the firstborn of those who died,” wrote the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 15:20-22), “For as death came through man, so through man came the resurrection of the dead. Just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”

Why does he call Christ the firstborn of those who died? People rose from the dead even before Christ: the prophet Elijah raised the son of the Sarepta widow, the prophet Elisha the son of the Shunammite woman, Christ brought back to life the daughter of Jairus (see: Mark 5:35-43) and the son of the widow from Nain (see: Lk. 7, 11-15). But His Resurrection is fundamentally different from these resurrections; He is the only one whom we call the Conqueror of death. After all, those resurrected remained subject to death, and eventually died anyway; and Christ, having risen, conquered death. Christ, having risen from the dead, no longer dies: death no longer has power over Him, writes the Apostle Paul in chapter 6 of the Epistle to the Romans (9).

Therefore, it does not have control over us either. In the same chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, the apostle explains that Christians, by being baptized into Christ, participate in His resurrection: “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (3-4).

- But why was defeated death allowed to be present in the world, why was it given power, albeit temporary, but still over us?

- The definition of God given to Adam - “you will return to the ground from which you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you will return” (Gen. 3:19) - has not been canceled. It will be canceled only after the Second Coming of Christ and after the resurrection of all the dead. For today's man, mortality is a mercy, the holy fathers write about this. Why mercy? Because for a spiritual, religious life, a person needs to understand the finitude of his earthly existence. From my priestly experience, I can say that the mass of people came to faith and the Church, thinking about the meaning of life; and the awareness of its finitude helped them think about the meaning of life. Death awakens a person from spiritual sleep. The Holy Fathers say that death stops sin and lawlessness; it reminds us that sin is followed by retribution. Death as a means of holding a person remains until God changes the existence of the world.

“The “painless method” is impossible in this case because man, God’s greatest creation, possesses such a trait of God-likeness as free will. A person cannot be saved automatically. Salvation is the free return of a fallen person to God. The Holy Fathers say that God chose the most effective possible way to save man: by showing him His sacrificial love, “loving His own who are in the world to the end” (John 13:1), He thus calls man to Himself. The Savior goes to the last limit - to abandonment and death - and after that no one will be able to say that man is indifferent to God.

— Sometimes people ask: how is it possible for a person to be resurrected in the flesh if dead flesh in the earth decays and is destroyed?

— Until the resurrection occurs, we pray: rest, O Lord, the souls of your departed servants. Not just “Thy servant,” but precisely their souls. The soul - the non-destroyable part of the deceased, that is, a destroyed person - left without its body, loses all power over itself and all possibility of choice. And there are places - of course, not in the topographical sense of the word - where there is no current time and where the souls of people who have completed their earthly journey reside. The Apocalypse reveals to us that these places are different: there are souls who are at the very throne of God in anticipation of bliss (a soul deprived of a body cannot fully taste this bliss), and there are those who have gone down very deeply: let us remember the parable of richer and Lazarus (see: Luke 16, 19-31). Finally, there are areas where souls remain who are not enlightened by the light of Divine truth and who have never come to know Christ.

— The fate of all these souls has not been finally decided? Otherwise we would not pray for the dead...

- Of course, this is the meaning of church prayer for the dead. They themselves can no longer change their fate, but with our prayer we can contribute to their salvation for eternal life. As for souls who are far from God, we are not talking about hell, no: hell, as a place of eternal destruction, will open and close its terrible doors only after the second coming and the Last Judgment: “And these will go away into eternal torment, but the righteous into eternal life” ( Matthew 25:46). And then the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven will open, the same one about which Christ said, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).

Interviewed by Marina Biryukova