PASCHAL MEDITATION
Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
Here is a truly remarkable passage on the Resurrection of Christ from Fr. George Florovsky. It bears careful reading and re-reading to absorb all that is said in this one paragraph. Further commentary is unnecessary, but I will simply point out for notice how seamlessly Fr. George moves from the death to the resurrection of Christ. The one is not somehow replaced by the other; but rather the Cross is a "resurrecting Cross" that is fully revealed in the Resurrection.
"The death of the Savior revealed that death held no power over him. The Lord was mortal in respect of His complete human nature; for even in the original nature there was a potentia mortis (capacity of death). The Lord died, but death could not keep Him. He was the eternal life, and through His death He destroyed death. His descent into Hades, the kingdom of death, is the powerful revelation of life. By descending into hades, He gives life to death itself. And by the resurrection, the powerlessness of death is revealed.
"The reality of death is not repealed, but its powerlessness is revealed. In the death of the Lord, the power of the resurrection becomes apparent, which is concealed but intrinsic to every death. The parable of the wheat can be fully applied to His death. In the case of the body of the incarnated, the period between death and resurrection has been shortened. The seed grows to perfection in three days: triduum mortis. During this mystical triduum mortis the body of the Lord was transfigured, glorified, and clothed in power and light. The resurrection happened by the power of God, and by the same power the general resurrection will happen on the last day. In the resurrection the incarnation is perfected, a victorious revelation of life in the human nature. Immortality was grafted to humanity.
"The resurrection of Christ was not only His victory over His own death but over death in general. In His resurrection the whole human nature is resurrected, but not so that all rise from the graves, for mankind must still die. But death has become powerless, and the whole human nature has received its ability to be resurrected."