He does not call Saturday the Sabbath, but says: "the day that follows Friday." Because, judging by the malice of the Jews, it was not the Sabbath. The law commanded that on the Sabbath day no one should move from his place; meanwhile, the lawless Jews gather to the foreigner Pilate instead of a lawful assembly. But even if they were moved by malice to come to Pilate and confirm the tomb, it was according to God's dispensation, so that the Resurrection would take place with the witness of this by the enemies and then, as the tomb was sealed and guarded. It is worthy of investigation how the Jews knew when they said that he would rise again on the third day. The Lord never spoke about this clearly and directly. Therefore, it must be thought that they learned this from the transformation of Jonah, for Christ said: As Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days, so I was in the belly of the earth; or from these words of His: "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days." They did not understand this before, but thought that He spoke thus about the Jewish temple, and blamed Him for it. But now they have understood that He called His body a temple, and they are already afraid and call Him a deceiver, not abandoning their malice even after His death.

And after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord, who had come down from heaven, came and rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb and sat on it; his appearance was like lightning, and his garments were white as snow; Being afraid of him, the guards trembled and stood as dead; And the angel, turning his speech to the women, said, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus crucified; He is not here – He is resurrected, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly, tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead and is going before you in Galilee; there you will see Him. Now, I told you. And they came out of the tomb in haste, and with fear and great joy they ran to tell His disciples.

"After the Sabbath is over" is an expression that is unambiguous with the expression of Luke (24:1) "very early" and with the words of Mark (16:2) "very early, at sunrise" (for here the sun must be understood as the morning rays of the sun, the dawn). Thus, with the onset of the eighth hour of the night, it is generally believed that the beginning of the next day and morning begin, which is why there was, on the one hand, the time "after the end of the Sabbath," and on the other hand, the beginning of the Sunday day. The Evangelist calls this last day "the first day of the week": this is because in general the days of the week were called Saturdays, Sunday is the first of the days of the week, the closest to this first day is the second (from Saturdays), the next is the third, and so on. The Lord rose at a time when the stone was still lying on the tomb. After the Resurrection of the Lord, an angel also comes to roll away this stone and open the entrance to the tomb for women. The earthquake was so that the guards would wake up and understand the extraordinariness of what had happened, that is, the miracle of the Resurrection. The Lord has risen for three days. But how are the three days counted? At the eighth hour of Friday, the Lord was crucified; From this hour to the tenth there was darkness: this (the time of darkness) shall be reckoned as night. Then, from the ninth hour, there was light again; That's counting for the day. This is like a day (day and night). Further, the night of Friday and the day of the Sabbath make up the second day. Then followed the night of the Sabbath and the morning of Sunday, signified in Matthew by the words "at the dawn of the first day of the week"; morning is counted for the whole day; Here is the third day. You can count the same three days in another way: on Friday the Lord gave up the spirit – this is one day; Saturday he stayed in the tomb – another day; Sunday night is resurrected, but for its part, Sunday is considered a special day. And here are all three days. Thus it is customary to say of the dead: for example, if one died at ten o'clock in the afternoon, and the other at one o'clock on the same day, it is usually said that both of them died on the same day. I can show you another way to count three days and three nights. Listen! On Thursday evening, the Lord celebrated the Supper and said to the disciples: "Take, eat... My body." From this it is evident that He, as having authority, will lay down His soul according to His will, at the same time He slain Himself, when He taught His Body to His disciples; for without slaughter the body is not eaten. Consider, then, that in the evening He gave His Body: that night and the day of Friday until the eighth hour constitute a day; then from the eighth hour to the ninth there was darkness, and from the ninth hour until evening there was light again; Here is another night and a day. Further, again the night on the Friday and the day of the Sabbath; Here is the third day. After the evening of the Sabbath, the Lord had already risen. Thus, we get all three days ("three days and three nights" – Matt. 12:40). Matthew says of the Angel that he sat on a stone, while Mark testifies that he, having rolled away the stone, sat inside the tomb on the right side. Do they contradict each other? No, the Angel at first, it must be assumed, appeared sitting on a stone, and then, when the women entered the tomb, he preceded them and again appeared already sitting on the right side inside the tomb. He said to the women: "Do not be afraid," that is, let the guards be afraid, they are worth it, but you, disciples of the Lord, do not be afraid. After he has freed them from fear, he begins to preach to them the gospel of the Resurrection. And so it should have been – first to banish fear, and then to tell the good news. The angel is not ashamed to call the Lord crucified; for He boasts of the cross, which has brought us all blessings, as a kind of victorious weapon.

And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, and said, Rejoice! And they came and took hold of His feet and worshipped Him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; Go and tell my brethren to go into Galilee, and there they will see me.

Since the female sex was condemned to sorrow, the Lord by His Resurrection brought joy to the female sex and blessed the women. For this reason, out of deep reverence and as a sign of special honor, they "took hold of His feet," not daring, in their modesty, to touch other parts of the Lord's body, except the lowest. However, some say that they deliberately "took hold of His feet" in order to ascertain whether He was really resurrected, and whether it was not a dream or a spirit; and they thought it was spirit. So this time both Marys touched His feet. If John says that Mary Magdalene, although she tried to touch, was not allowed; it was because she wanted to always be with Him as before. Or rather, she was not allowed to touch Christ because it was unnecessary; for after she, according to Matthew, had already touched His feet, what was the need to touch another time? And therefore, as desiring superfluous, it is not allowed.

And as they went, some of the guards entered the city, and announced to the chief priests all that had happened. And they gathered together with the elders, and took counsel, and gave sufficient money to the soldiers, and said, Tell them that his disciples came by night and stole him while we slept; and if the news of this reaches the governor, we will convince him, and we will save you from trouble. And they took the money, and did as they had been taught; And this word has spread among the Jews to this day.

The guards announced everything, namely, that an earthquake had occurred, that the stone had fallen off of its own accord, and that they themselves were as dead from fear. But the Jews are not taught by what the soldiers testified to them; on the contrary, they still infect the soldiers with passion, that is, love of money, and advise them to say that which is most impious and foolish, that is, that the Lord has been stolen. But, you madmen! How could the disciples steal when they were locked up in fear and did not dare to go out and show themselves? If they had stolen, how would they have dared to die for Him afterwards, preaching that He had risen? How would you agree to suffer for a lie?

And the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain whither Jesus had commanded them, and when they saw him, they worshipped him, and some doubted. And Jesus drew near and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

According to John, Jesus first appeared to the disciples on the very day of the Resurrection, when their doors were locked, then eight days later, when Thomas also believed. Then, when they were just preparing to go to Galilee, and not all were yet gathered together, but some were fishing in the Sea of Tiberias, the Lord appeared to one of the fishermen, to the number of seven. Consequently, the appearance of which Matthew speaks was after those of which John speaks; for the Lord often appeared to them for forty days, now he came and then went again, and was not always and everywhere with them. So the supreme disciples, along with all the other followers of the Lord, worshipped Him. "And some doubted," that is, some were perplexed about Christ, whether it was He or not. These words should be understood as follows: the eleven disciples went to Galilee; and these eleven worshipped Him; and some, probably of the seventy, doubted about Christ; however, in the end, these latter were also convinced. Some understand it this way: Matthew did not say who exactly the doubters were; but what he did not say, John said, that the doubter was Thomas. However, it could also be that everyone doubted, as Luke really says. Judging by all this, you must understand this: when the disciples came to Galilee, they worshipped Him; but these same worshippers in Galilee, as Luke says, had doubted before, that is, when they were in Jerusalem. Jesus said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." This is the thought: As God and Creator, I have always had authority over all things, but I have not had voluntary obedience on the part of men; now I will receive it also, now all things will submit to Me; for by my cross I have conquered him who already has the power of death. Submission is twofold: one is involuntary, according to which we are all slaves to God and against our will, not excluding demons; the other is voluntary; in this sense, for example, Paul was a servant of Christ. Formerly, when all showed only involuntary submission, the Saviour had power over everything, as it were, only halfway; but after the cross, when the knowledge of God became accessible to all, and when all had submitted voluntarily, it was fitting for Christ to say: "Now I have received all authority." Formerly, I had power only partially, when they served Me only involuntarily, because I am the Creator, but now, when people serve Me freely and intelligently, I have already been given all and all authority. By whom was it given to Him? It is obvious that He Himself accepted it, "humbled Himself... to death" and crucifixion. Otherwise, if He had not humbled Himself and fought the enemy with the help of the cross, He would not have saved us. Therefore, the words "all power has been given to Me" should be understood in this way: by My own deeds and struggles I saved people, and as a result they became My inheritance, My own people. This means that the Lord has authority on earth in the sense that the whole earth has come to know Him; and in heaven – in that the reward and residence of those who believe in Him is in heaven. On the other hand, since human nature, previously condemned, now, after hypostatic union with God the Word, sits in heaven, receiving worship from the angels, it is fitting to say: "All power in heaven has been given to me"; for human nature, formerly servant, now in Christ itself rules over everything. In short: if you take into account the fact that the words "all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me" is spoken by God the Word, then understand them in this way: all authority has been given to Me, inasmuch as now, both involuntarily and willingly, those recognize Me as God, who previously served Me only through involuntary submission. If you look at these words as referring to the human nature of Christ, then connect with them the following meaning: I, formerly a condemned nature, but now, by virtue of an unmerged union with the Son of God, have become God, – I have received power over everything, so that in heaven the angels worship Me, and on earth I am glorified in all limits. In accordance with this, the Lord no longer sends His disciples to the Jews alone, but as having received power over all, having sanctified in Himself all human nature, He naturally sends them to all tongues, commanding them to be baptized "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." May Arius and Savely be ashamed. Arius – by the fact that the Lord said not – in the name, but "in the name"; and the three have one name – God, therefore the Trinity is one God. Let Sabelius be ashamed of the fact that the Lord did not mention one Person, who supposedly has three names, but is sometimes called the Father, sometimes the Son, and sometimes the Spirit, as he superstitiously says; on the contrary, he mentioned three Persons, whose name is one – God. Further, since it is not enough to be baptized alone, but after baptism one must also do good; then he says: "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" – not one or two, but "all" of My commandments. Let us be afraid, brethren, knowing that if we do not keep even one thing, we will not be perfect servants of Christ; for it is required of us to preserve everything. See how the Lord's speech embraces both branches of Christian piety – theology and active virtue. For by saying that we should baptize in the name of the Trinity, He taught us theology, and by adding that we should teach and keep the commandments, He showed us active virtue. Finally, since the Lord sends His disciples to the Gentiles, and moreover to danger and death, in order to encourage them, He says: "Do not be afraid, for I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Know that He also reminded them of the end of the world in order to induce them to despise dangers all the more. Do not be afraid, he says, all worldly things, whether they be sorrow or prosperity, will have an end; Therefore, do not fall away in grief, because it is passing away, nor be deceived by good things, because they will come to an end. However, the Lord's promise to be with them refers not only to the apostles, but also to all His disciples in general, that is, to all who believe in Him and keep His commandments; because the apostles did not have to live until the end of the world. Thus, the Lord promises His abiding to the end of the age, both to us and to those who will come after us; However, not in the sense that it will be until the end of the world, and after the end it will not be. No, then it will be especially with us, and moreover in the clearest way, for the expression "before," wherever it occurs in the Scriptures, does not exclude what will come after. Let us give thanks to the Lord, Who dwells with us here, Who now bestows upon us every good, and who desires to dwell with us in the most perfect way unto endless ages. To Him is due all thanksgiving and glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.