Third Sunday after Pascha. Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, Octoechos Tone 2; The Holy and Glorious Martyr Irene (321-23); Our Venerable Father Nicephoras, Hegumen of the Monastery at Medicius
Read
Acts 6:1-7; Mark 15:43-16:8
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Before we begin the Matins service on the day of Pascha (two weeks ago today), we gathered in a darkened church. One candle was lit in the Altar by the Bishop (or priest if in a parish church) and that light was shared among everyone present. We all went outside the church and, with the Myrrh-bearing women of whom we hear in today’s Gospel, we walked to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. When we entered the church again, we find, with the Myrrh-bearing women, that the tomb is empty and filled with light, and we hear the words of the angel, the same words that the Myrrh-bearing women hear, “He has risen” and with these same women who went to the Apostles we sing aloud these words, “Christ is risen from the dead!” We then sing the praises of the Risen One and celebrated the Eucharist, as He commanded, in the empty tomb.
Our walk with the Myrrh-bearing women to the empty tomb, our discovery of the stone being rolled to the side, the amazement at seeing the empty tomb and hearing the voice of the young man in a white robe, the astonishment that comes upon us at the realization that the resurrection of our Lord is real and actual and not a metaphor, our going and announcing the Good News that the Lord is risen—all of this is NOT just some sort of commemoration of past historical events. It IS a remembering in which we are made present to these events. With God’s grace and our faith, when we realize this, a determination will seize us. We will have a desire welling up in us, a desire to proclaim and sing of the Resurrection within our Church community (our parish) and also outside to the whole world. We will desire to share this Good News with everyone we meet—we will want to show everyone what we have found—pearl beyond price! Like the women, the only fear we have is of distorting or losing this message that Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death, and to those in the tombs giving life!
mw