Our Venerable Fathers Isaac (406-25), Dalmatus and Faustus
1 Corinthians 15:12-19; Matthew 21:18-22
Dormition Fast
Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-19
Some of the Christians in Corinth believed in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead but did not believe that others would rise from the dead. Paul begins at this point in his letter to show how this belief is incoherent and that belief in the resurrection of Jesus necessitates the resurrection of the from the dead of others (and vice versa). Paul starts by showing the bad logic of this belief: if no resurrection from the dead of others, then Christ could not have risen from the dead (as He is, with His full divinity, fully human), then the apostles teaching is in vain, then showing the apostles to be liars, then leading us to a vain faith.
It is interesting to note that the apostles not only preached that Jesus has risen from the dead. They also preached in Jesus the resurrection of the dead (see Acts 4:2). From the Catechism, Christ Our Pascha:
233. Angels announced to the myrrh-bearing women: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen” (Lk 24:5-6). The Resurrection from the dead is the victory over bodily corruption: “Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him” (Rom 6:9). In the Resurrection, the body of Christ is new and glorified, free from earthly limitations of time and space. Precisely because of this, the Resurrection of Christ is the revelation of God’s new creation. On Sunday, the first day after the Sabbath, the Church celebrates the Resurrection of Christ as the first day of the new creation.
234. The Resurrection of Christ is the guarantee of our own resurrection: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ” (1 Cor 15:20-22). The faith of the Church is entirely based on the Resurrection of Christ: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:17-18). “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died” (1 Thes 4:14).
Knowing this perhaps gives new meaning to the Paschal Troparion, “Christ is risen from the dead trampling death by death and to those in the tombs giving life.” In this oft-repeated hymn, we proclaim Christ’s resurrection and look for our own resurrection from the dead already begun in our Baptism.