It is useful to believe this, it is pleasant to hope and, of course, not to believe – there is a punishment, but to hope is grace. If I sin in this, that I wish to be in the company of angels rather than of beasts after death, I willingly sin in this, and as long as I live, I will never abandon this opinion.

What consolation remains for me, except that I hope to come to you soon, dear brother, I hope that our separation will not be long, and you yourself, through your intercession, can quickly acknowledge me, who wish to do so, for whoever does not desire it for himself, let this perishable put on incorruption, and this mortal will put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:54.)

About the Sacrament of Pascha

Chapter 1. Where did the sacred name of Pascha come from?

The sacrament of Pascha gives to all those who believe in Christ, to those who have been regenerated by the world, the joy and glory of the blessedness of the world that returns every year, although its sacred name comes from the suffering of the Saviour Himself, as is evident from the words of the blessed Apostle: "For our Pascha Christ was devoured for us" (1 Cor. 5:7). For Christ, having received the flesh of man, dedicated Himself to suffering in the sacraments of Pascha, so that everyone who received a share in this gift through time could justly be considered worthy of a share in the Lord's beatitudes.

Chapter 2. On the importance of Easter time.

With Easter the year actually begins, the first month comes, the plants are revived again, and, after the night of the terrible winter, the primeval spring is renewed. At this time, as I think, God, the Creator of the visible and the invisible, having established the earth and covered the heavens, has sanctified the day with the rays of the sun, has given this moon in the darkness of the night, has adorned the hanging vault of the sky with the splendor of the stars, has enclosed the sea within the known boundaries of the shores, forbade the desire of a deep and noisy wave to cross the appointed predestinations, and adorned the view of the earth with lush hills and high mountains, so that the level surface of the earth, hidden far from the sight of the eyes, Holds the beauty of the fields for mortals.

Chapter 3. About how man, appointed to be the ruler of earthly creation, lost the mercy of the Creator, and so on.

Man in whom God was pleased to create in a special way, was appointed to be the ruler of the earthly creature with darkness, so that he himself would obey the Divine decrees, and fulfill the will only of Him Who, out of nothing, made him ruler over such numerous creatures. But he himself began, desiring, not out of ignorance, but out of envy, to despise, contrary to his nature, higher than by which by the grace of God he was created, he was deprived of the grace which the love of the Creator had given him. And the transgressor, because of the lust of that which the devil had deceived him, was immediately condemned to death, and spread it also to the descendants who were to descend from him, so that on this occasion the Divine saying was perfectly fulfilled: "By envy of devil death is brought into the world" (Wis. 2:25). In this way, for reasons of the fall, the devil received the power of death over all the sinners, and took possession of all those who had departed from God, binding them with the chains of grha, and imprisoning them in the prisons of the stinking Tartarus.

Chapter 4. In what way did God, having taken on human flesh and put to death the flesh, descended into hell, and having broken the chains and the gates of hell, set free those who were bound there from the jaws of the devil.

Grieving over their destruction, God, according to Divine providence, did not send a prophet, nor a slave, nor an invisible angel, but, having taken on the true human flesh, He Himself came and dwelt with man, in order to give mortals an example of a holy life, and by the end of His death and resurrection to manifest eternal life to those who lie in Him. For just as Nevria and idolatry sealed the entrance to heaven, so did the wickedness cast the wicked into the abyss of hell, where the devil reigned over them through death, tormenting them, until the coming of the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, until He, having united the essence of human flesh with God, gave up the immaculate aphid to death. Christ, who had no part in the grave, descended into the pit of Tartarus, and shattered the chains and gates of hell, and, having destroyed the dominion of death, called the souls bound by the grave from the jaws of the devil to life, and the Divine triumph is inscribed in the letters of the Scriptures, saying: Where is the sting of death? where is it (1 Cor. 15:55)? Reflecting on this beatitude of restored salvation, Paul says: "As through Adam death entered into this world, so through Christ salvation was restored to the world" (1 Cor. 15:22), and in another place: the first man is a ring from the earth: the second man is from heaven (1 Cor. 15:47), and adds: "As we are clothed in the image of a ring, that is, an old man of sin, that we may put on the image of heaven" (1 Cor. 15:49), that is, that we may receive the salvation of the man who has been received, redeemed, renewed, and purified into Christ; for the same Apostle says that the first, that is, the firstfruits of the resurrection and life, are Christ, and then Christ's (1 Corinthians 15:25), that is, those who, imitating in their lives His purities, will attain the hope of His resurrection, in order to receive with Him the heavenly glory encased, as the Lord Himself says in the Gospel. For whosoever He saith shall follow Me shall not perish, but shall pass from death into life (John 5:24). In this way, the suffering of the Savior is the salvation of human life. For this is why He willed to die for us, that we, lying in Him, might live forever; for this reason He willed to be for a time that we, so that we, having received the communion of Him, might dwell with Him.

Chapter 5. On the high merits of the Paschal sacrament and day.

Such, I say, is the grace of the heavenly mysteries! Such is the gift of Pascha! Such is the longed-for year of the year! Such is the beginning of the birth of things! Hence, infants born in the animal ban of the Holy Church, being reborn, play with childish simplicity in the depths of an innocent conscience. From here pure fathers and wise mothers receive a new innumerable generation according to the time of the Lord. From here, under the tree of the tree, from the womb of the immaculate spring, shines the beauty of the candlesticks. From here (people) are sanctified by the gift of heavenly merit, and are satiated with the solemn feast of the heavenly mystery. Hence the people, constituting one people, like brethren brought up in the bosom of the blessed Church, honoring the one in essence Divinity and the threefold name of power (et virtutis triunum nomen), sing with the Prophet the hymn of the annual feast: "This day, which the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and rejoice in it" (Psalm 117:24). What day, I say, is it? He Who hath brought us the author of life, the fountain of light, the author of enlightenment, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who said of Himself: "I am the day, and he that walketh in the days shall not stumble" (John 11:9), that is, he who follows Christ in all things, according to His words shall come to the throne of the Holy Father, as He Himself, while still in the world, prayed for us to the Father, saying, "Father, I will, that I am, and these, that is, those who have taken me into me, shall be with me" (John 17:24): "As thou art in me, and I in thee, so also shall they be in us" (John 17:21). "Behold, I say, a day of joy and gladness, in which, having attained the perfect glory of all, we, the people, who are truly holy, still in this year, like angels, sing with the Prophet to the Lord the mystery of the future praise: this day, which the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and rejoice in it, the Lord, that is, the author of the restoration, redemption, and eternal life, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, reigning without beginning and without end in the Father with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and forever. Amen.