Sermons & Homilies
This Sunday – the second Sunday after Pascha – we remember, and we celebrate, the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women, as well as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. And who were these people? They were a people that exemplified perfect love, courage and faithfulness towards their friend, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. When we read the Gospel, it seems like they are hardly mentioned – just a passing note on the way to Christ’s Resurrection. But what faith and what love of Christ did the Myrrh-Bearing women show! What loyalty and devotion! At the darkest hour, when all had abandoned Christ, when all hope seemed to be lost, these women – along with Joseph of Aramathea – went and risked their lives to take Christ from the Cross, to lovingly wrap Him in linen, and to lay Him in a new grave. And when all were hidden away in fear of the Jews and of the powers that be, when all had abandoned Christ, their murdered Messiah, it was this small group of women who risked everything out of love for Christ – to anoint Him with myrrh and sweet spices. And just as it was through a woman, through Eve, that sin came into the world, it was through a woman, the Theotokos, that God came into the world. And it was to these women that the Resurrection was first revealed. It was in this way that their true love, devotion and bravery was rewarded by God. While all were cowering behind locked doors, these women, faithful to Christ and out of love for their friend, were amazed to behold the empty tomb, and to hear the words – for the first time ever – “He is Risen!”
The end is near! At the end of this coming week Great Lent will be over. But now, I would like to take a moment to look back at the beginning of Great Lent, and even the preparation for Great Lent. Every year at our monastery during the First Week of Lent, we read in our trapeza these words from the great instructor of the spiritual life, Abba Dorotheos:
“The Mystery from the ages is revealed today… God becomes man, so that He might make Adam a god.”
My brothers and sisters, these words from the Praises of the Forefeast express a great and holy truth. Even more, these words express the greatest truth of our lives. It truly is “the Mystery from the ages.” It is not a fairy tale. Nor is it simply a dull formula dredged out of some lifeless textbook of theology. It is reality, though a reality far beyond the wildest dreams even of St. Peter when he said to the Lord: “to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” When holy Chief of the Apostles spoke this, he did not yet have but the barest inkling of the life that the Son of God came to us to bring. As St. Paul later wrote: “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” And even more, in the words of the Apostle John the Theologian: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
Today all over the world, Orthodox Christians in every nation gather in their churches to celebrate the Precious Cross of Our Saviour Jesus Christ. In every Orthodox Church the Cross is lovingly decorated with flowers and greenery and then solemnly carried through the church with incense and candles as the faithful sing hymns about the Glorious Cross. The pious devoutly bow down before the Precious Cross and venerate it.