The Easter greeting (“Christ is Risen”) is the greeting that the believer extends to his fellow believer every time they meet, for a period of forty days, that is, from the day of Easter until his farewell.

In fact, this greeting - and its response (“Indeed, He has risen”) - is not, in essence, a substitute for the greeting (Good morning, good evening...) that people exchange on ordinary days, and which all peoples say and which societies’ etiquette assumes, but rather it is the commandment of the living Christ. Who asked the Church to bear witness to his victory over death, man’s only enemy (it is reported that Saint Seraphim of Sarovsky used to greet the believers with the phrase: “Christ is risen, my joy,” every day of the year). It is good news. What a sweet greeting that expresses the joy that changed the course of history, the joy that is revealed to the public and is not “silent about” (Acts 4:20).

The four evangelists agree that Christ, who rose from the dead with great glory, called on his disciples to convey this good news (his resurrection) to the whole world. Matthew says that the angel of the Lord asked “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary,” who had come “to see the tomb,” to quickly go to the disciples and say to them: “He (Jesus) has risen from the dead” (28:1-8; compare with Mark 16 : 1 - 8; Luke 24: 1 - 10 and John 20: 1 18), then (Matthew) explained that Jesus appeared to his disciples in Galilee, and commanded them, saying: “Go and make disciples of all nations...” (16-20). This is the same thing that other evangelists say, as we read in Mark that Jesus said to his disciples: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to all creation...” (16:15-18). Luke states that the Lord met with his disciples after his resurrection and reminded them of everything he had said to them while he was with them (“All that is written concerning me must be fulfilled...”), and opened “their minds to understand the scriptures,” which is, “that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the day The third…”, and the story ends with Jesus commissioning his disciples to bear witness to his resurrection (24:44-48). The fourth evangelist (John) crowns the news of the appearance of the risen Lord to the disciples with the same assignment given by the evangelists who preceded him (20:21).

We see that this assignment was undertaken by the disciples in the best way possible, as the resurrection that required martyrdom was the subject of the martyrdom. The pages of the Book of Acts of the Apostles (and the Epistles of the New Testament) are filled with news of the emerging church that caught the world with the news of the Resurrection, and it deeply appears to the reader that the Resurrection and the repentance and renewal it entails is the only good news (Read: Acts 1:22, 2:22-32, 3:13 - 15, 4:1-2 and 8-10, 5:29-32, 10:24-43, 13:26-31, 17:1-3 and 31 (26:22 and 23...).

The Lord's resurrection from the dead is the foundational theme of the Church's faith and the secret of its daily life. Therefore, it was her duty - and remains - to bear witness, at an acceptable or unacceptable time, that the Scriptures were fulfilled in the coming of Christ, who completed his Father’s management through his death and resurrection. This matter concerns every person who died, in his baptism, with Christ and rose with him. The true Christian cannot be neutral in the face of this decisive event. The resurrection, which requires conscious involvement in the community of God in history, therefore requires that believers bear witness to this victory in word and life.

The Easter greeting comes from this awareness. Whoever says to another that “Christ is risen” is, in fact, including himself in the ranks of the apostles and the witnessing Church. This is because the Resurrection is not a feast that we receive on a calendar or that we complete on a specific day. It is “the feast of feasts and the season of seasons,” meaning that it is the event that imposed itself in rituals distributed on every Sunday and season so that the believers could taste its depth and practice it in witnessing, love, and devotion to the one who “took our infirmities” and died. About us. Christianity is a religion of witnessing love or not of Christianity. Paul said to the Corinthian Christians: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is also in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). The Church, in this sense, is “apostolic” - and this is one of its four attributes in the Constitution of Faith: one, catholic, holy and apostolic Church - and this means that it comes from the faith of those who preceded it and that it is the bearer of a message in the world (and it is charged to carry, in every time and place, The news of the resurrection of the living Christ spread to all people.

Testimony, in its depth and scope, is not limited to words only, as it appears and takes place in the lives and commitment of believers. Whoever comes to church on the feast day and misses it all year long is under the illusion that he has understood the mystery of the living Christ or that it is a feast for Easter. He who is afraid of death does not believe in the resurrection. He who is comfortable with his sins and does not feel their pain cannot see the risen Christ or “prostrate to the Holy Lord Jesus, who is innocent of sin.” The error alone...” And that is if he does not change his deadly position and reconcile the church, heal the brokenness in him and ask God, with warm tears, to heal him from all alienation and betrayal.

If we say, “Christ is risen,” or answer, “He is truly risen,” let us always remember that the depth of this greeting presupposes an implantation in the witnessing Church and a love for Christ, who through his resurrection transferred us “from death to life and from earth to heaven,” a love that is, in its truth, a source of joy that is inexhaustible. It breaks.

About my parish bulletin
Sunday, May 9, 1999