The Supreme Feast of the Resurrection

The three-day Sun of righteousness has risen today, and has enlightened all creation; the three-day and eternal Christ has brought forth the cluster, and has filled the inhabited world with joy. We have seen the evening become dawn; we are raised before the dawn today, and we have been filled with the joy of light. The gates of Hades were opened by Christ, and the dead rose as from sleep.

Christ rose, the resurrection of those fallen, and he raised up Adam; Christ rose, the resurrection of all, and he drove away the Eve of the curse; Christ rose, the resurrection, and he made bright the formerly disordered and the things he has ordered; he was awakened like the sleeping Lord, and having struck all his enemies, he shamed them. He rose, and granted joy to all creation; he rose, and the prison of Hades was emptied; he rose, and led the corruption of nature into incorruption; Christ rose, and established Adam into the ancient dignity of immortality.

Through whom a new creation is being renewed in Christ by the resurrection; through whom a new world exists, let the disordered be ordered; through whom a new Church is, a new heaven today; a heaven more beautiful than the heaven that is seen. For it is not a sun that is capable of setting daily, but a Sun whom this servant, having felt shame at the cross, set; a Sun about whom the prophet says, 'The Sun of Righteousness rises to those who fear Jesus.' A Sun, which the Church has perpetually clothed itself with, through whom the Scripture says, 'A Sun went out into the earth,' and Lot, as a type of the law, entered into Zoar, which is interpreted as smallness. This Sun makes the foolish wise; this Sun is founded in the firm foundation along with our faith. Through this Sun of righteousness, Christ, the Church has become heaven; it does not increase like a moon.

Even if it seemed to fade, it holds a constant light; it does not raise wandering stars, but brings up newly-lighted stars from the depths. It brings not rain-bearing clouds, but the Church possessing theological teachers; it is not hanging upon murky waters, but is established upon holy dogmas. It sends not winter rain or the cries of birds, but persuades men through the voices of teachers. This day, which the Lord has made, let us rejoice spiritually, and let us be properly glad in God upon it. This is to us more abundant than all feasts; this is the feast concerning which the Holy Spirit is exhorted, saying: Establish a feast among those who gather together and rejoice, even unto the horns of the altar. This is the feast of the whole world, a simultaneous dedication and salvation.

This feast is the summit and the highest point of all feasts. This is the day which God blessed and sanctified, because in it He rested from all His works, having completed the salvation of those on the earth and those under the earth. In it He stilled the rites and dances of idols and scandals; in it He stilled the power of all adversaries. In this He stilled demonic festivals and celebrations; in this He stilled the dust and the sacrifices of idols' blood; in this He stilled the wandering of impiety; in this He stilled the dominion of the tyrant and the center of the people; in this He stilled common sacrifices and new moons; in this He added new boundaries and laws to creation; in this He stilled the Passover of the law and of the Jews; in this He fulfilled all the type, the shadow, and the prophecy.

Our Passover, the true Passover, was set forth as Christ; and there is in Christ a new creation, in Christ a new faith, new laws, and a new people of God. This is a new, but not an old Israel, and a new Passover; a new and spiritual circumcision; and new...