Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Tuesday of Bright Week
1st Vespers, Great & Holy Saturday: Isaiah 60:1-16 Apostle: Acts 2:22-38 Gospel: St. Luke 24:12-35
Isaiah 60:1-16 LXX, especially vs. 1: "...for your light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen
upon you." Since ancient times, this passage from Isaiah has served as the second in a series of sixteen lessons read at the
night-long Vigil which begins with Great Vespers on Great and Holy Saturday. Today, in monasteries where the whole
Vigil still is served, this passage most certainly is read. Anciently, the administration of the Baptismal Mystery to the
Catechumens also took place during the long Vigil, with all rites concluding early on Great and Holy Pascha morning, the
whole Church celebrating the glorious Resurrection Divine Liturgy.
Often today, in our parish churches, this lesson is not selected to be read at the Saturday morning Vesperal Liturgy of St.
Basil. Nevertheless, its words should sound familiar to the Faithful because of the Ninth Ode of the Paschal Canon; for the
words of the passage inspired St. John of Damascus when he composed the Paschal Canon.
An excellent summary of the content of the passage is provided by Theodoret of Cyrus: "...the prediction simultaneously
comprises three subjects: it prophesies, as in outline, the reconstruction of Jerusalem which took place under Cyrus and
under Darius [589-456 BC]; then as in a painting which enhances a great-enough number of colors, it also shows the more
exact contours of the truth, the splendor of the holy Church; yet it likewise conveys even the original of the painting in
advance, that is to say the future life and the celestial city."
Let us focus on what the prophecy reveals about the Church in time as she manifests to the Faithful the realities to come
(Heb. 10:1): the Church stands 1) as Light in darkness, 2) as the gathering of God's scattered children, 3) as a repository of
the spiritual wealth of the nations, 4) as that People who offer acceptable sacrifices, 5) as the recipient of the promises
made to old Israel, 6) as the true Zion, and 7) as a community filled with perpetual gladness.
Because the Light has come to the Church, she uniquely reveals His glory shining upon her amidst the darkness of
disbelief, confusion, and sin that covers the earth, which enables world leaders and nations who receive illumination to
walk in Light and brightness (Is. 60:1-3).
Beloved of the Lord, let us lift up our eyes and behold all the children of God now being gathered from more and more
nations where Orthodoxy never has been known before (vs. 4).
What great spiritual treasures have come into the Church over the centuries and continue to flow into her as a repository
and beacon of truth (vss. 5-6)!
Why this influx of people and spiritual treasures? Is it not so that "acceptable sacrifices shall be offered on [the Lord's]
altar, and [His] house of prayer shall be glorified" (vs. 7), and that "the Holy One of Israel [be] glorified" (vs. 9)?
God's People have experienced both His wrath and His mercy over the centuries (vs. 10). Despite all, the Church's gates
have remained open to all peoples (vs. 11), the kings of many nations have served the Lord (vs. 11), governments that have
refused the Lord have perished (vs. 12), and "the sons of them that afflicted [the Church]....have come to [her] in fear" (vs.
14).
Today the Church is called "Zion," as in the Ninth Ode of the Paschal Canon (vs. 14). On earth, she literally is "the city of
the Holy One of Israel" (vs. 14).
Though the Church in time imperfectly exhibits the transforming power of the Light Who abides in her, still she is a true
source of "perpetual gladness" (vs. 15) to the Faithful, to those who "know that [He] is the Lord that saves...and
delivers...the Holy One of Israel" (vs. 16).
Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and leap for joy, in that thou beholdest Christ the King like a bridegroom come forth from the grave.
