This is the day of resurrection! Let us be illumined by the feast! Let us embrace each other! Let us call “Brothers” even those that hate us, and forgive all by the resurrection, and so let us cry:
“Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!” -Aposticha of the Resurrection
Christ is risen so we no longer are slaves to Sin and Death. The Devil (however you may envisage that) no longer has claim over us. Christ is risen so we are now free...free to choose to return to God and to the source of Light and Life and Love and Joy or to turn our backs individually. Christ is risen so the darkness no longer has the final say. Christ is risen so that the barriers between God and Human no longer mean anything. Christ is risen so that we too may rise.
St. Augustine once wrote not to berate the unbeliever or the wicked or the persecutor, for they may indeed take the invitation above and you now have the awkward duty to patch things up with someone who is now brother and sister but once was sworn enemy. I know that I too am guilty of it. In 2020 many of us, myself included, fell victim to our pride and let it master us rather than us master it. So today let us take this ancient hymn to heart and offer and beg forgiveness. We still need to hold each other accountable for the horrible things we've done, and that can feel like ripping the dressing off a wound, but let us stop hating each other.
Remember, Christ is risen from the dead. He died to destroy all those evil things that we say or think or do and rose that we can rise from that death into new life.
Χριστός ἀνέστη!
Άληθῶς ἀνέστη!
