This little I have written to you with this intention and purpose, that you may always be ready to answer the Jews. For they, transgressing the law, observe the ceremonies of the Passover, when they no longer have any right to do so, and glorify for themselves the tablets of the law and the ark of the covenant. And yet they do not understand or understand what the prophet foretold about them, saying, "In their days they shall not say to him, The nod of the covenant of the Holy One of Israel shall not ascend in the heart, nor be remembered, but shall be visited, and shall be made unto it" (Jeremiah 3:16). But if it is said that there will be no more nod of the covenant, that it will not ascend to the heart, will not be remembered, and will not be visited, then it follows that he who tries to renew it is already a transgressor. And in another place Jeremiah says, "Israel and Judah did not abide in the covenant of God" (Jeremiah 31:32). As for the covenant which the Lord had to give to the Gentiles, He foretold thus: "And I will make a new covenant unto the house of Israel, and unto the house of Judah, not according to the covenant which their fathers commanded, in the day that I take me by their hand, I shall bring forth from the land of Egypt, for they have not continued in my covenant, and I have not neglected them, saith the Lord" (Jeremiah 31:31-32). And if they say to you, that it is foretold that the new covenant will be given to Israel and Judah, and not to the Gentiles, then tell them that the same one who called Israel the ruler of Sodom, and the people of Gomorrah, the same God called to Abraham, and made this promise to him with his own mouth, saying, Your name shall not be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham. for thou hast laid thee down as the father of many tongues (Gen. 17:5); and in another place he said to him, "And all the tongues of the earth shall be blessed unto thy seed" (Gen. 22:18).

When you know all this for sure, and are convinced of it, communicate this to those brethren and children of our Church, who, being overwhelmed by doubts and contradictions, fall into perplexity in relation to the time of Pascha; it is not difficult for the truly faithful to know this. If it happens that our day of Christ's suffering falls on a week's day; then it should be celebrated next week, so that in this way the whole week may be devoted both to the remembrance of Christ's suffering and to the celebration of Pascha. For after Pascha there are seven days of Pascha, and then the same feast continues until the Pentecost, but no further. If, on any other day, the day of the Lord's suffering falls, then the matter is beyond any contradiction, and there is no longer any confusion. The day of Friday is for us a great day. For according to the number of the days of the month, the day of the crucifixion, in which our Lord suffered, is the fourteenth day, and the time in which he was among the dead, that is, night and day, is the fifteenth day, from the sixth hour of Friday to the evening of that day which precedes the day of the week, that is, the sixteenth day, in which he was also raised. For on the evening of the fourteenth day he ate with his disciples the passover according to the law of Judah; And on this fourteenth day on the Friday he was judged until the sixth hour, in which he ascended to the cross, and on it he remained alive for three hours. And to the dead He descended on the evening before the fifteenth day, which is the Sabbath, and on this fifteenth day He was among the dead. And on the night of the sixteenth day He rose again, and appeared to Mary Magdalene, and to the two disciples who were traveling. From henceforth let him understand that he who doubts and inquires in these days understands that it was on the night of the fourteenth day that our Lord kept the Passover, eating and drinking with His disciples. But as soon as the crowed, he did not eat or drink any more, because they took him and led him to the judgment seat, and as I told you a little above, he was among the dead for the fifteenth day and night. Therefore we must celebrate this Pascha year after year in due season, observe the holy fasts, pray without ceasing carefully, earnestly, and in proper words, that is, we must sing the Psalms of David, perform praises of thanksgiving, seal ourselves in the font of baptism in a proper and proper manner, we must ask holy blessings in a proper manner, and we must fulfill and accomplish all things, which only relates to the celebration of Pascha. For Christ is risen from the dead, to whom He dieth no more: death possesses Him not. For if he dies, he dies to sin alone, but if he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, think ye also that the dead may be sinful, but the living Gods (Rom. 6:9-11). And if there is anything to be asked and perplexed in this matter, it would be much more necessary to pay attention to the fourteenth day than to the celebration of Pascha from year to year. But this also means that we must carefully guard and observe the fourteenth day of every month, and the Fridays of every week; for this is proper and proper for us; however, in such a way that all the days of the week are considered useful for doing good works before the Lord God. Finally, from this little that I have written to you, see not that it is profitable for you to start disputes among yourselves, which in fact does not bring any benefit and no good; but take care of one thing, that you may have a heart that keeps the commandments, that you may keep the Passover in due time, and observe all the rites during the celebration of the great feast of the suffering of our Saviour.

A Word on the Resurrection of the Dead

Every day we hear arguments about the resurrection of the dead. How, they say, will the dead be resurrected? In what body will they rise? because the present body rots and decays; the bones themselves, in the course of time, rot, crumble and decay. Look, they say, into that tomb in which hundreds of the dead are buried; you can hardly find a handful of dust in it. But others, reasoning on the same subject, object thus: we know, they say, that the dead will rise; but they will put on the heavenly body and spiritual forms. If it were otherwise, they continue, then these are the very hundreds of the dead who are buried in one tomb, and of whom nothing remains in the course of time, in what will the body be clothed at the time of the resurrection, when their former body is reduced to nothingness? "Then they will put on heavenly bodies."

Everyone who only thinks in this way is really senseless and insane. According to his reasoning, the dead, when they were brought into the tomb, were something; but after a long time they turned into nothing; When the time comes for the resurrection of the dead, then how will that which was nothing become something again, as before, and the former nature will be renewed? "Fool, listen to what the Apostle says, addressing his speech to a fool like you, and rebuking him in this way: 'Fool, if you sow, he will not live, unless he dies: and if you sow, you do not sow the body to come, but the grain is bare, if it happens, wheat or any other of the rest: but God gives him a body, as He wills, and with some seed His body (1 Corinthians 15:15). 36-38). "Believe, therefore, fool, that each of the dead will arise in his own body. Have you ever sown barley, and reaped wheat in the same place? And hast thou gathered figs from the grapes which thou hast planted? "Of course not; but everything is reborn according to its kind. Therefore the body will also be resurrected, the same that dies. For this body is first destroyed and decays; then you must conclude about his resurrection by the likeness of a seed, which, having fallen into the ground, first begins to rot and decay, and then from this same rottenness the grass vegetates, blossoms and bears fruit. For just as the place in which the seeds were not sown does not bear fruit, even though it receives for itself a timely rain, so from the tomb in which not a single dead person was buried, not a single person will come out at the time of the resurrection of the dead, even though all the sound of the trumpet is concentrated over it. But if, as they say, the souls of the righteous ascend into heaven, and put on the bodies of heaven (and the beings of heaven dwell in heaven, just as He who raises the dead dwells in heaven); how is it that He, having come to earth, will raise up the dead from it? And why does the Scripture tell us, that the hour is coming, in which those who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God, and will come out of their graves (John 5:28)? Will the heavenly body descend from heaven, ascend into the tomb, and come out of it again, as the fools say?

But why did the Apostle say that there are heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies (1 Corinthians 15:40)? "Whoever opposes these words of Scripture to us must also listen to something else that the Apostle says in the same place: "There is a spiritual body" (1 Cor. 15:44); further: "It behooves this corruptible to put on incorruption, and to this dead to put on immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:53). In another place: "It behooves us all to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that he may receive whatever he has done with the body, either good or evil" (2 Corinthians 5:10). Again, what do those who are baptized for the sake of the dead do, says the Apostle? If by no means do they rise from the dead, that they are also baptized for the sake of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:29)? And above this: if the resurrection of the dead is to be brought, then Christ will not rise. If Christ does not rise; For our preaching is vain, and so is our faith. We are also found to be false witnesses of God, as obedient to God, as to raise up Christ: but raise not Him up, unless they rise dead. But if the dead are not resurrected, then there is no final judgment. Yes, the pits, and drink, for in the morning we will die. Do not flatter, says the Apostle, "good habits corrupt, evil conversations (1 Corinthians 15:32-33). — The words of the Apostle: "There are heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies," you must understand in the following way: when the body of the righteous arises and changes, then it is called heavenly, and that which does not change is called earthly by nature. But listen to the Apostle's similar expressions. He says somewhere: "A spiritual man is seized of all things, but he himself is seized by not a single one" (1 Corinthians 2:15). Again, "Those who are according to the flesh are wise: and those who are according to the Spirit are spiritual" (Romans 8:5). And again: "When I am in the flesh, the passions of sin, which are by the law, work in our minds, in which the fruit of death is produced" (Romans 7:5). The Apostle spoke all this about a man who is clothed with the flesh and is under the influence of the spirit. In this way, at the time of the resurrection of the dead, the bodies of the righteous will be changed, and the earthly form will be hidden in the heavenly one, and will be called the heavenly body. But a body that has not changed is called earthly. "However, I will expound to you in more detail the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, as much as I can.

First, when God formed Adam, created him and raised him up from the dust. So, if God created Adam out of nothing; then it is much more convenient for Him to resurrect it in the form in which it was already, because the seed has already been cast into the ground. If God does something for us that seems impossible to us; then this should not seem to us a great deed for Him Himself. He eats even from wise men, who produce wonderful works; — and people who do not understand such things are amazed and amazed at how this is done; — even the work of their friends seems to their eyes to be an impossible matter. How wonderful must the works of God be for them after this? It is not at all difficult for God to resurrect the dead. If the earth produced what it did not have seed in it; and if, not being inseminated, she gave birth in her virginity, then what is this impossible task for her to bring forth that which she has seeds in her, and to give birth while she was inseminated? "Behold, the time of her birth is approaching, as Isaiah says (Isaiah 36:17)!" "But perhaps it will be objected to us: who has heard or seen such a miraculous event that the earth in one birth produced the whole human race?" "For Adam," we answer, "there was no seed in the earth, yet he was born; he was not conceived, yet he was brought into the world. Now his generations have already been sown, and are waiting only for rain to grow. And now the earth is fraught with many, and is close to being lifted from the burden!

All our fathers longed for the resurrection and desired it, as the holy Apostle says: "And if they remembered it, from which they came, they would have time to return: but now they desire the best, that is, the heavenly one" (Heb. 11:15). They wanted to separate themselves from the earth as soon as possible, and go to heaven. From what I now tell you, you will understand well that they were looking forward to the resurrection. Jacob, our forefather, at his death, bequeathed to his son Joseph thus: "If thou hast found grace before thee, put thy hand under my thigh, and do mercy and truth upon me, lest thou bury me in Egypt: but that I may rest with my fathers: and thou shalt bring me out of Egypt, and bury me in their tomb" (Gen. 47:29). Beloved! Why did Jacob not want to be buried in the land of Egypt, but with his fathers? Because he wanted to make it clear that he was waiting for the resurrection of the dead; and that at the loud sound of the last trumpet he might rise beside his fathers, and on the day of resurrection he might not be found among the wicked who were to go to hell. In like manner Joseph commanded his brethren: "In a visitation," he said, "God will visit you, lift up my bones also with you" (Gen. 50:25). And the brothers fulfilled this testament of Joseph, keeping the remembrance of it after one hundred and twenty-five years. For when the army of the Lord came out of the land of Egypt, then Moses carried with him also the bones of Joseph. The bones of the Righteous One seemed precious to him; he valued them more than the gold and silver that the children of Israel brought out of Egypt. These bones of Joseph were carried through the wilderness for forty years; and when Moses died at the end of this time; then Joshua became their heir (Joshua 24:32), for whom the bones of his father Joseph were more precious than all the booty he had acquired in the conquered land. "But why did Moses give Joshua Joseph's bones?" "Because he himself was of the tribe of Ephraim, and that he might bury them in the precinct of the onago, that the bones of Joseph might be preserved as treasure." "Jacob, at his death, blessing his sons, who had become rulers of the tribes, foretold to them what was to happen to them in later times. He said to Reuben, "Reuben, my firstborn, thou art my stronghold, and the beginning of my children: cruel to endure, and cruel is the stubborn. Thou hast grieved like water, that thou mayest not boil: for thou hast ascended on thy father's bed: then hast thou defiled the bed where thou hast ascended" (Gen. 49:3-4). From the death of Jacob to the death of Moses, two hundred and thirty-three years passed. But in spite of such a period of time, Moses strove through the established priesthood to atone for Reuben's sin (Gen. 35:22), so that he too would not be excluded from the number of his brethren at the time of their resurrection. For this reason the same Moses at the beginning of his blessings says: "Let Reuben live, and let him not die" (Deuteronomy 33:6). "At the time when Moses himself was to go to his fathers, he was troubled in spirit and grieved; and therefore he asked and prayed to his Lord that He would allow him to go on and see the promised land. Why, beloved, did the righteous man grieve? "Not because I could not go further and see the earth boiling with honey and milk; but because he could not enter into this land and be vouchsafed to be buried with his fathers, but had to lay his bones in the land of his enemies, in the land of the Moabites. For the Moabites bribed Balaam the son of Beor, to speak evil and curse Israel. Moses did not wish to be buried in this land, lest the Moabites should come, open his tomb, take out the bones, and scatter them over the field. But God showed Moses great mercy. He led him up to Mount Nebab (Num. 27:12; Deut. 34:2), and showed him all the Promised Land, presenting it, so to speak, before his very eyes. And when Moses looked upon all that land, then he saw the mountain of the Jebusites, and the place of rest that was destined for him. Sorrow pressed his heart, and he burst into tears when he saw the tomb in the city of Hebron, in which his forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were buried, because he was not destined to lie down near them, and that his bones would not be added to their bones, that on the day of resurrection he might rise with them. But after he had surveyed the whole earth, the Lord comforted him, as if saying: "I will bury you, I will hide you from everyone, no one will know the place of your grave." "And Moses the servant of the Lord died there, in the land of Moab by the word of the Lord. And he buried him in the land of Moab near the house of Phohor, and no man hath seen his burial even to this day (Deuteronomy 34:5-6). The Lord, having concealed the place of Moses' burial, showed him two mercies: the first was that his enemies could not find him, extract his bones from the tomb and scatter them; — the second, that even the Israelites themselves did not recognize his tomb and did not make it a place of worship, because the people looked upon him as a kind of God. From this we can understand, beloved, why the Israelites, when Moses left them and went up to Mount Sinai, said: "For this man, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, did not know what was to happen to him" (Exodus 32:1), and they made themselves an image of a calf and worshipped it, and they forgot that it was not Moses, but God through Moses who brought them out with a mighty hand and a high arm. This means that God showed mercy to Moses, hiding his tomb from the people, so that they would not make an image of him, and would not carry the bones of this Righteous One from place to place, with sacrifices to Moses himself.

But Moses himself somewhere clearly predicted the resurrection of the dead, saying from the presence of God: "I will kill, and I will live" (Deuteronomy 32:39). Anna says the same in her speech: "The Lord killeth, and lives, brings down to hell, and raises up" (1 Samuel 2:6). The dead shall rise, says Isaiah, and they shall arise who are in the graves, and they shall rejoice who are on earth (Isaiah 26:19). They will proclaim the mercy of God when they hear the trumpet voice thundering from above; during the earthquake the tombs will be opened, and nations will come out of them with glory, they will proclaim with one accord the mercy of God, and they will say: "Great is the mercy of God that has been shown us; our hope was justified and our hope was fulfilled; we were sown, not in honor, but raised with glory — sown in weakness, but risen in power." "Thus will they proclaim from the graves the mercy of God!" However, beloved, God who raises the dead did not speak of this only in words, but in fact proved the resurrection, and gave testimony about it in many ways, in order to overcome our unbelief and deliver us from the punishment for it. Through Elijah He miraculously proved that the dead come to life, and those who sleep in the earth are resurrected; for the prophet raised up the widow's son who had died, and gave him to his mother (3 Kings 17:21). In the same way, Elisha restored life to the son of the wife of Soman (2 Kings 4:32-36), so that we might have a second, firm and indubitable proof of the resurrection. They threw the dead man on the bones of Elisseus, and he was alive (2 Kings 13:21). Thus the third proof is given to us. Through the prophet Ezekiel, the resurrection and revival of the dead are also clearly explained. God, having brought him out into a certain field, and having shown him a multitude of bones, asked: "Son of man, shall these bones live" (Ezekiel 37:3)? Ezekiel answered Him: "Lord God, Thou art this (Ezekiel 37:4). Then God said to him, "Son of man, prophesy against these bones, and say unto them, The bones are withered, ye hear the word of the Lord" (Ezekiel 37:5). And when the prophet made them hearken to the word of the Lord, then there was a noise and a movement; — the bones, which had been separated and broken, began to copulate. The prophet, seeing this, was amazed, because the bones quickly joined one another, each into its own composition. Standing in amazement, he saw that sinews also appeared to unite them, all the dry bones were covered with flesh, all the bodies were clothed with skin, and the skin was adorned with hair; however, there was no spirit in them yet. After this God commandingly said to the prophet: "Prophets of the spirit, prophets, son of man, and prophets of spirits, this saith Adonai the Lord: Come to the soul from the four winds, and breathe into these dead, and let them live" (Ezekiel 27:9). As soon as he made them hearken to the word of the Lord for the second time, souls came and ascended into them; they came to life, rose and stood on their feet; — an extremely great army appeared.

But why did not these dead rise from the first word, and did not the resurrection of the bones together with the souls take place? Why did the bones copulate at the first word, and after the second did souls rise up in them? Because the perfect resurrection must be accomplished only through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who with one voice and one word will stir up all the generations of Adam. It is known that Elijah and Elisha, when raising the dead, never stirred them up with a single word, but prayed, asked God, and waited a long time for the dead to be resurrected. It is also known that our Lord, at His first coming, raised up three dead men; but each of them He raised up with two words: to the son of a widow He spoke two words: "To the young man, I say, arise" (Luke 14:14); and this one came to life and arose. And to the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue He also uttered two words: "To the virgin (I say unto thee,) arise (Mark 5:41); and her soul returned to her, and she arose. When Lazarus died, the Lord Himself went to his tomb, prayed and cried out with a loud voice: "Lazarus, come forth" (John 11:43); and this one lived, and came out of the tomb. "I told you that these dead were resurrected in two words; This is because two resurrections are to take place over them: one that is performed at that time, and the other that will take place later. But at the time of that resurrection, when all people will be resurrected, and will die no more, all the dead will rise in the twinkling of an eye from the one word of God, which will be pronounced by Christ the Savior; for it is not a weak or feeble man who will utter this word, but He for Whom it is sufficient to speak one word, and it will be heard in all the ends of the earth; and the dead shall be awakened by him, and shall rise again. A word sent by God does not return to Him poorly; but, as it is written in the prophet (where God likens His word to rain and snow), if rain or snow come down from heaven, and do not return, until he gives water to the earth, and gives birth, and vegetates, and gives seed to him who sows, and bread for food. Thus shall My word be, if it come out of My mouth, it shall not return to Me sick, until it shall accomplish all that it wills, and I will hasten My ways and My commandments (Isaiah 55:10-11). Rain and snow do not return to heaven, because they do the will of Him who sent them on earth; but the word sent by God through Jesus Christ, Who Himself is the Word, returns to Him with much power. When it proceeds from God and is carried to the earth, then it descends upon it in the likeness of rain and snow; — from him vegetate the seeds of the righteous and give their fruit. But when this Word returns to Him who sent Him, then He is not empty and idle, but, as He Himself says to Him who sent Him: "Behold, I and the children whom Thou hast given Me" (Isaiah 8:18). However, the Saviour Himself testifies to the word by which the dead will be resurrected: "The hour is coming, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and when they have heard, they shall live" (John 5:25). Wherefore it is written: "In the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1); for He Himself is the Word, for the Scripture says: "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us" (John 1:14). And this Word is the word of God that will come from above and raise the dead. "In addition, the Lord explained the future resurrection of the dead to the Sadducees, when they, having offered Him the parable of the woman who had seven husbands, asked, 'In the resurrection of whom shall there be a wife of the seven?' For all are in full force (Matt. 22:28). Jesus answered them, "You are deceived, you who do not know the scriptures, nor the power of God." For in the resurrection they do not marry, nor trespass, but are like the angels of God in heaven. Concerning the resurrection of the dead, do you read what God said to you, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? is not God, the God of the dead, but the God of the living (Matt. 22:29-52).

However, there are people who die alive for God. God commanded Adam not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and threatened him: "In that day ye shall take away from it, ye shall surely die" (Gen. 2:17). Although Adam lived another nine hundred and thirty years after transgressing the commandment (Gen. 5:5), nevertheless he was dead to God because of his sins. "Let it be known to you that the sinner is called dead, although he still lives. This you can see from what is written in the prophet Ezekiel: "I do not desire the death of a sinner who dies, saith Adonai the Lord" (Ezekiel 18:32). "When a man asked permission of our Lord to go to his house for the burial of his father; then the Lord said to him: "Leave the dead to bury your dead: but thou goest and proclaim the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:60). How, beloved, in your opinion, should this be understood? Have you ever seen the dead bury the dead? How can the dead arise to bury the dead? "But understand the meaning of these words!" "The sinner, though still alive, is nevertheless dead before God; but the righteous, although he died, nevertheless lives before God. This death, beloved, is a dream, as the Scripture says: "And many shall arise from them that sleep in the dust of the earth" (Dan. 12:2). Our Lord said of the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue: "A virgin shall not die, but sleepeth" (Matt. 9:24); and about Lazarus: Lazarus is our friend prosperous, but I go and stir him up (John 11:11).

We must still fear the second death, which is accompanied by tears and gnashing of teeth, wailing, calamity, and terrible torment; "I mean that death which nestles in utter darkness. Although the believers and the righteous will be blessed on the day of the resurrection of the dead, because then they have the hope of receiving recompense for their good deeds after the resurrection; but woe to the wicked who do not believe in the resurrection! It would be better for them if they did not rise at all, since they do not believe in the truth of the resurrection. For a servant who longs for the torments and bonds determined by his master, when he goes to sleep, would never want to wake up; for he knows that as soon as the morning shines, he will be bound and beaten and tormented. But the good servant, to whom the master has promised rewards, watches and looks forward to the day, for as soon as the morning comes, he will receive rewards from his master; if he falls asleep, he also dreams of his master giving him the promised rewards; — he rejoices in a dream vision, and awakens in joy. Thus also the righteous sleep, and their sleep is sweet day and night; they do not feel the length of the night, because it seems to them to be one hour; in the morning they will wake up and rejoice. But the sleep of the wicked is painful and painful; they are like a man who, suffering from fever, tosses about on his bed to and fro, and knows no rest all night. In the same way, the wicked, struck with terror, fears this morning, because he will have to stand before his Lord guilty. Our faith teaches that when people die, the souls of the righteous go to God, and the souls of sinners go to hell. Remember here what I said in my former discourse about the hermits, saying that the spirit that dwells in the righteous departs to the Lord, to its heavenly beginning, until the time of resurrection. Then he returns again to be united with the body in which he dwelt; and he always beseeches God for the resurrection of the body with which he was united, so that it also may participate in the rewards, since it participates in the virtues.

But here is another stumbling block, set up for us by heretics! They deduce an incorrect consequence from the words of our Life-Giver: "No man ascendeth into heaven but he that came down from heaven, the Son of man which is in heaven" (John 3:13). Behold, they say, the Lord Himself has testified that the earthly body does not ascend to heaven! But they, foolish, do not understand either the power or the meaning of these words. For through them our Lord only wanted to bring Nicodemus to his senses, understanding neither the power nor the meaning of His conversation. It was as if he said to him: "No one ascends to heaven in order to descend again to inform you of what is happening there. If the river of the earth be unto you, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe the river of heaven unto you" (John 3:12)? For no witness has come with me from there to assure you of the things in heaven. Elijah went up there, but did not come down from there to give a testimony with Me, which in the presence of two would be considered indubitable." "But you, beloved, should not have the slightest doubt about the resurrection of the dead, because the mouth of Him in Whom life consists has pronounced the testimony of it. According to the words of the Scriptures, the Lord kills and lives (1 Samuel 2:6). From the mouth of the One they received their beginning – death and life. As it is true that He kills, we see for ourselves; so it must be known to us, and worthy of indubitable believ, that He will revive Us again. "Therefore what I have set before you to believe, accept and believe, so that on the day of resurrection you may arise with a clean body, receive from the Lord your reward and reward for your faith, and rejoice and be glad in what you have believed."