Second conversation on the day of Holy Easter, at Vespers

From the lips of a self-witness we have now heard what happened in Jerusalem, before the eyes of Christ’s disciples, on the evening of this great and truly luminous day. Just yesterday, witnesses to the suffering and death of their divine Mentor were ready to consider themselves abandoned by Him forever and to recognize the entire work for which they were called as destroyed. Even this morning, despite the fact that the myrrh-bearing women who returned from the tomb brought assurance from the Angels that the Lord lives (Luke 24:23), some of the disciples apparently lost the hopes connected with His name when they hastened to leave Jerusalem. Others, in fear of persecution from the Jews, which from the Teacher could turn on His disciples, sought safety for themselves within the walls of the closed house. Now everything has changed: and the day, illuminated by the new light that shone from the tomb, is worthily concluded with even brighter revelations in the Cathedral of the Apostles. The events of Jerusalem are, indeed, so joyful, so significant, and touch us so closely that our thoughts and hearts involuntarily turn to the memory of them. But when we are ready to surrender to these memories, we are warned and called to reflection by the command of the Risen Lord to the myrrh-bearing women: “Go and tell my brethren, that they may go to Galilee, and there they may see Me” (Matthew 28:10). Why does the Lord, calling the disciples to Galilee, at the same time appear to them in Jerusalem? The command to go to Galilee in order to see the Risen One there does not mean that the Lord did not intend to appear to His disciples earlier, but only indicates the special significance of the Galilean phenomenon. He called His disciples there, so that there, with greater safety from the Jews than in Jerusalem, he would find them calmer and more capable of accepting the latest instructions for their service. It was more convenient for a larger number of believers to gather there, before whom it was pleasing to the Lord to testify to His resurrection: only there could they, without fear, unite in a number of more than five hundred brethren in order to see the Risen One (1 Cor. 15:6). For such a great gathering, the Lord prepared a great sermon. There, in Galilee, on the borders of the Jewish and pagan world, the sons of Israel were to hear from the lips of the Lord Himself the solemn calling of all peoples to His kingdom, which embraces heaven and earth. “Here is all authority given in heaven and on earth. Now you will all learn languages” (Matthew 28:18–19). Within the boundaries of the Old Testament and New Testament churches, the mystery of the triune Divinity should have been revealed more clearly, as the confession of each and everyone in the new Israel. “Teach all tongues, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” And being left visibly, but invisibly still entering into the closest union with their Lord, the disciples were to receive a great promise from the Father of the present and future ages: “Behold, I am with you to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). This was the purpose of the solemn meeting to which the Lord called His disciples to Galilee! But it was not suddenly that they could approach this goal; the state of their spirit, their faith and hope required preliminary reinforcement and confirmation in Jerusalem itself. Because the first messengers and messengers about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, for the most part, had not yet found faith in them. It was necessary to give a helping hand to those of little faith, as Peter once drowned at sea. Meanwhile, the stay of the disciples in Jerusalem, extended for some time, could be very useful for destroying that rumor invented by the malice of the enemies that the body of the crucified Lord was stolen by His disciples. If this rumor had at least some shadow of justice, then first of all one should have expected prosecution both from the high priests and from the Roman governor against those accused of criminal abduction. So the Lord, although even before His resurrection and on the very day of the resurrection, appointed His disciples to go to Galilee in order to see Him there; but in order to free the disciples from painful doubts, to excite and revive their spirit, it was necessary for Him to appear to them in Jerusalem even earlier. What did St. see here today? Apostles? “At the closed door, where His disciples were gathered together, Jesus came and the hundred in the midst of them” (John 20:19). He came through a closed door: he came with flesh, but as if incorporeal, unhampered by any barriers. The apostles saw: this was not the flesh of those whom the Lord brought back to life, for example, Lazarus, who had recently reclined with them at the evening. Both Lazarus and others resurrected by the Lord, returning to the environment of the living, again entered into the general conditions of human life. Humanity in Jesus Christ appeared to have already crossed the floor of existence, free from those bonds and restrictions that He Himself imposed on Himself; and His flesh became spiritual. I will come and a hundred in the midst of them. We can say that here the always invisibly fulfilled comforting promise given to the entire Church was apparently fulfilled: “Where there are two or three gathered in My name, I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Indeed, everyone was gathered here in the name of their Teacher and Lord. From early morning until now everyone was busy thinking about Him. While some, for example John, saw confirmation of their faith in every new circumstance, others, on the contrary, found reasons to doubt. The Lord allowed this struggle to take place in their minds and hearts, so that it could more accurately lead to conviction of the truth, so that others would subsequently have no reason to reproach them for gullible haste. By the end of the day, new appearances of the Lord brought new evidence of His rising from the grave. So Peter saw the Lord. So the travelers of Emmaus hastened with the news that they recognized Him in the breaking of bread - they walked with Him for a long time, listening to His conversation. And while these messengers, still full of those sweet impressions that the conversation of the Divine Mentor had left in them, conveyed to their fellow disciples His words, from which their hearts burned, Jesus Himself came and stood in their midst. After the events in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the courtyard of the high priest, at the cross, when the disciples left their Teacher and Lord in the hands of His enemies - although everyone promised to lay down their souls for Him - one could expect that at the very first meeting they would remember the vows they had broken, they would remember their renunciation of Christ, their flight. No! The goodness of the Risen One covers all their guilt and speaks peace to everyone. “He stood in the midst of them and said to them: Peace be with you” (John 20:26). There is no exception for anyone. Peace to you too, John, who remained faithful to the end. Peace to you too, Peter, who was afraid of the gatekeeper and then atoned for his fall with bitter repentance. Peace to you too, who could not resist in the dark time, who gave themselves up to flight, who were ready to leave their last clothes in the hands of their enemies, just to save their lives - Divine wisdom foresaw that the meek voice of love will penetrate much deeper into the hearts than strict reproof. And Wisdom was justified from Her children. Christians! Everything that is desirable in these few features of the Gospel narrative, by the goodness of the Risen Lord, can be applied to our church triumph. Faith says to us: The Lord is near, the Lord is in His holy church, the Lord is here in our midst. Let us stand with faith and reverence in His holy presence. Here He appears to us in His glorified flesh: only our eyes, like the eyes of those travelers of Emmaus, are held by the veil of the mystery so that we can behold it. Wasn’t this meek “peace be with you” repeated here in the loving invitation to everyone to “enjoy the feast of faith”? What did we hear from the mouth of the golden-talking teacher? “All of you enter into the joy of your Lord. Let no one weep in misery: for the common kingdom has appeared. Let no one weep for sins: forgiveness has risen from the grave.” Christ is in the midst of His disciples! It would seem that now their hearts would open up before Him and completely surrender to the feeling of joy. But they were still restrained by fear: I have a spirit to see (Luke 24:37). The Risen One needed to assure them of the reality of His resurrection, to dispel any misunderstanding. And the Lord points to the wounds that remained on His flesh from being pierced by nails and a spear: showing them His hand and posture and His ribs; allows you to even touch Himself: “Handle Me and see that a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see Me having” (Luke 24:39). Not only that: He demands for Himself something edible, and when they served “He had some baked fish and honeycombs from the bees, I took some poison from them” (Luke 24:42–43). And so there remains no doubt that here, before them, is their crucified Lord and Teacher Himself. A number of testimonies proving the truth of Christ’s resurrection were added in the following days before the Lord’s ascension into heaven. “And He made Himself alive because of His suffering: in many true signs He appeared to them for forty days” (Acts 1:3). But the attention of a Christian, the gaze of grateful and reverent love, is especially attracted by those wounds that death on the cross left on His most pure flesh. It is also great for us that our Lord and Redeemer, at the end of His great work, did not forever put away the flesh He had received in the tomb, as He left the shrouds and cloths; but He came out of the grave with our flesh, glorified His humanity and then ascended it to heaven. But He deepened His mercy towards us by retaining upon Himself even after the resurrection the wounds of death on the cross. Although they were inflicted on the innocent Sufferer by our sins, the infinite love of our Redeemer made them intercessors for us before the justice of God. They vividly testify that the Son of God did not lay aside His work as an intercessor. And how many sinners have they aroused from being put to sleep! How many sinners found reconciliation with the truth of God in them! How much consolation flowed from them into grieving hearts! How many suffering, penitent, thirsty for peace in their souls and sanctification, contemplating these divine ulcers, have drawn and will always draw from them new strength to fight sin within themselves and outside themselves and to strengthen themselves in the feat of good! Having assured the Apostles of His resurrection, proving to them that He is the One who called them for great service in the world, the Lord now draws their attention to this very service. The time to enter into it has already approached: since the redemption has already been accomplished, the earthly dreams of the kingdom of Israel have been destroyed by the death of the God-man, the blindness of Israel clearly showed the preachers of the faith the path to languages, first adjacent to the Jews, then further and further to the limits of the universe. “Jesus again said to them: Peace be with you; for the Father has sent Me, and I send you” (John 20:21). St. Cyril of Alexandria rightly notes: “By this our Lord Jesus Christ ordained the mentors and teachers of the universe and the builders of His divine mysteries and commanded them, like luminaries, to illuminate not only the land of Judea, but the entire sunflower and all those who exist everywhere.” The Lord Himself came to earth not for Israel alone, but to gather the scattered children of God into one (John 11:52). He Himself began His ministry by preaching: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is drawing near” (Matthew 4:17). Now He entrusts them, His chosen disciples, with the responsibility of preaching in His name repentance and remission of sins “to all nations, which began from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). Entrusting to them the fate of all nations, He exalts His Apostles over all whom they bring to Him, and thus spiritually places them on the twelve thrones of the new Israel. “As the Father sent Me, I send you.” Here the existence of the universal Church and the hierarchy within it is expressed. For such a great service, the Head and Founder of the Church grants His chosen messengers great powers and invests them with great authority. Gives them the Holy Spirit, invests them with the divine right to forgive sins. “And this he said, I will blow, and he said unto them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). This was not yet a complete communication of the measure of grace-given gifts predetermined by him. The Lord Himself in His last conversations to His disciples said: “You have no choice but to go; unless I go, the Comforter will not come to you” (John 16:7). And on the day of His resurrection He said to Mary Magdalene: I do not sigh to My Father, but I ascend (John 20:17). Therefore, a complete outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles could not have been expected before the glorious ascension. But as Himself anointed in humanity with the Holy Spirit and in Divinity consubstantial and inseparable with Him, uniting His power with His creative breath, the Son of God renews the beginnings of divine life in the disciples, suppressed in the night of universal temptation, and in proportion to the spiritual acceptability of each imparts to them new divine gifts, both for the success of their inner life and for the service entrusted to them. At the same time, as the Redeemer of the world, the Lord said: “But forgive their sins, and they will be forgiven them; but to them hold, they will hold” (John 20:23). This right did not only apply to the initial conversion of the peoples, to whom the Apostles were to preach repentance and remission of sins in the name of Jesus Christ. But since in Christians sin is also a remnant of paganism, the vegetation of that dark region from which Christ leads us, the right to forgive sins mercifully includes the sick members of Christianity. As we remember the great events of the appearance of Christ in the Council of the Apostles, we, listeners, are pleased to realize that we are in the depths of the conciliar, apostolic Church and under the hierarchy, which originates from the Apostles by succession. And therefore, we can boldly hope that everything that has now been given from the Lord to His disciples in His own measure and with an abundance of new revelations and gifts poured out from the Holy Spirit has passed and is passing on to us. Let us bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Who, according to His abundant mercy, gave us birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, for an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven” (1 Peter 1:3-4). Amen.