An Orthodox Easter

Once upon a time, long, long ago, on a mystical island far, far away, I experienced an Orthodox Easter.  It was an extremely moving experience about which I understood very little at the time, but it left an indelible mark upon my soul.  Through all the years since, I have sought to understand that Easter experience of long ago on the island of Crete and to learn something of the Eastern Orthodox Church. 

Today, my Greek and Russian brothers and sisters (Eastern Orthodox) are celebrating Easter.  Their celebration is a week later than that of the Western church simply because (to make a long story short) they follow the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar.  I greet my Orthodox brothers and sisters this morning with the traditional Easter greeting  “Christos Anesti”—“Christ is Risen!” I can almost hear the response, “Alithos Anesti”—“He Has Risen Indeed!”  I join my Orthodox friends this morning in singing the ancient Easter Hymn, Christos Anesti:  “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and to those in the tombs, granting life.” “Kalo Pascha" (καλό Πάσχα)—Happy Easter! 

The Orthodox see things a little differently than the Western churches (and I write, “churches,” because of the many differing views among  Christian  churches in the West).  Timothy Ware in The Orthodox Church, describes the Orthodox understanding of the Resurrection as “when the tomb burst open under the pressure of divine life.”  He says, “Orthodoxy interprets the Crucifixion primarily as an act of triumphant victory over the powers of evil (death), the West…has tended rather to think of the Cross in penal and juridical terms, as an act of satisfaction or substitution designed to propitiate the wrath of an angry Father.”

Ware also suggests that the Orthodox see “the whole ‘aim’ of the Incarnation as the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost”—“and the whole purpose of the Christian life as nothing else than the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.”  Orthodoxy says that salvation and redemption mean  deification—the human person has been called to become a god; and the reason God became human is that we humans might become god.  Isn’t that interesting?    

That Orthodox Easter experience of long, long ago, on a mystical island far, far away, profoundly influenced my life and my faith.  I’m so grateful!  “Alithos Anesti!  Kalo Pascha!”

"Dance,  then,  wherever you may be,
for I am the Lord of the Dance, said He."