ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

& . ARCHDIOCESE OF THYATEIRA & GREAT BRITAIN

BULLETIN OF SPIRITUAL EDIFICATION

5 2013
. 1282

EASTER SUNDAY
5th May 2013
No. 1282

PASCHAL HOMILY OF ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

s anyone devout and loves God, let them enjoy this fair and shining festival. Is anyone a grateful
servant, let them enter the joy of their Lord. Have any wearied themselves with fasting, let them
now enjoy their payment. Has anyone laboured since the first hour, let them today receive their due.
Did any come after the third hour, let them feast with gratitude. Did any arrive after the sixth hour,
let them not hesitate: for there is no penalty. Did any delay until after the ninth hour, let them
approach without hesitating. Did any arrive only for the eleventh hour, let them not fear because of
their lateness: for the Lord is generous and receives the last as the first: he gives rest to the worker of
the eleventh hour as to those of the first. He has pity on the latter, he cares for the former. He gives
to the one, he is generous to the other. He accepts the work done, he welcomes the intention. He
honours the achievement, he praises the purpose. Therefore all of you enter into the joy of our Lord:
first and last, enjoy your reward. Rich and poor dance together. Sober and slothful honour the day.
Fasters and non-fasters be glad today. The table is full, all of you enjoy yourselves. The calf is fatted,
let none go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of the faith. All of you enjoy the richness of his
goodness. Let no one grieve at their poverty: for the kingdom of all has been revealed. Let no one
bewail their faults: for forgiveness has risen from the tomb. Let no one fear death: for the Saviours
death has freed us. By enduring it he quenched it. He who descended into Hell has despoiled Hell. He
embittered it when it tasted his flesh as Isaiah proclaimed in prophecy, Death, he said, was
embittered when it met you there below. Embittered, for it was destroyed. Embittered, for it was
mocked. Embittered, for it was slain. Embittered, for it was wiped out. Embittered, for it was bound
fast. It received a body, and came face to face with God. It received earth, and met heaven. It received
what it saw, and fell through what it did not see. Where, Death, is your sting? Where Hell, is your
victory? Christ is risen, and you are abolished! Christ is risen, and the demons have fallen! Christ is
risen, and Angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and life has found freedom! Christ is risen, and there is no
corpse in the grave! For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the first fruits of those who
sleep. To him be glory and might to the ages of ages. Amen.

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EPISTLE READING
Acts 1:1-8

n the first book, Theophilos, I dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day
when he was taken up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the
apostles whom he had chosen. To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many
proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God. And while
staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise
of the Father, which, he said, you heard from me, for John baptised with water, but before
many days you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit. So when they had come together, they
asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, It is not
for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you
shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses
in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

. 1, 1-17

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GOSPEL READING
John 1: 1-17

n the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him
nothing that was made, was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not master it. There was a man sent from God,
whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, that all might
believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. The true light
that enlightens every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came
into being through him, and the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and
his own people did not accept him. But to all who accepted him, he gave power to become
children of God, those who believed in his name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will
of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us; and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.
(John bore witness to him, and cried, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me
ranks before me, for he was before me.) And from his fullness have we all received, grace
upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.


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SERMON ON THE GOSPEL READING

ome people may be surprised that the Fathers chose this particular reading for this
Liturgy on this, the Greatest Feast of the whole Christian year: Holy and Great
Pascha. Why one might ask is the gospel not one of the accounts of the Resurrection
itself? In fact of course, on this day, the devout will have already heard two accounts of
the Resurrection, at the first Liturgy of Pascha (now served on Great Saturday morning)
and then again in the middle of the night just before we proclaim Christ is Risen! for
the first time. And, of course many people will have heard the stories of the
Resurrection read on virtually every Sunday of the year at Orthros (Matins).
So the Fathers set out to do something different. They want to answer the
question So who is this, who is risen from the dead, and why does it make any
difference?
And they do this by giving us what is without doubt the most splendid and most
profound passage in all the gospels, the so called Prologue of St Johns Gospel.
It is, first of all, an account of a relationship: the relationship between God the
Father and God the Son who is called the Word: In the beginning was the Word and the
Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God:..
The Greek word Logos ( ) is much richer in meaning than the English
translation. Certainly it means word but it also means reason and is behind all the
English words that end in ology like ornithology, archaeology etc. It is important to
remember that when we talk about the Word of God we are not talking about a book
but about a person.
Second it is about Creation, not how Creation came about but who did it, who
was the creator: All things were made through him and without him was not anything made
that was made. And this creation is not only all the material stuff with which we are
surrounded for In him was life and the life was the light of men. So there is for us a special
understanding of Life. It is connected with Light which takes us to the very beginning
of Creation to God himself. For we read in Genesis And God said Let there be light and
there was light...
Third we understand that this light is special for us because it is: The true light
that enlightens every man was coming in to the world and of those who received him: who
believed in his name he gave the power to become the children of God.
And here is why this gospel reading matters to us. The one who is risen from
the dead is not just a man. He is God himself, who for some unaccountable and
extraordinary reason thinks that we silly little people are worth bothering with, worth
sharing our life, worth suffering with, worth dying for and then above all worth sharing
his divine life with for ever. And the proof of this is that he is risen. Because he is risen
so are we. He has trampled down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowed life.

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