Keywords: Baptism, knowledge, sacrifice, redemption, self-denial, light, cross, fulness of heart
Abstract:
Christ untied the cockle bonds by means of His Truth proven at the Resurrection (John 8, 32). At the Christ appearance, after the Resurrection, the mind was released from the dungeon of the knowledge of good and evil, without which the cockle bonds could not be untied. By this releasing of the bonds, the waves that disturbed the hearts, that is the moment of “hearing the voice of the Son of God”, to the resurrection understood as a spiritual birth: “Peace be with you” (John 5, 24-25; John 20, 19). At the Lords’ Resurrection the righteous who had been waiting for His descent into Hell were also revived. Among these, the first one was Saint John the Baptist. This event meant for him the fulfilment that made him so happy, that of the spiritual resurrection of the disciples trained by him, in order to made right and saved by Christ. Concerning him, Christ have prophesied in this way: “Blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me (Matthew 11, 6)”, because right at His Baptism took place, by the Christs’ invocation of the Holy Spirit, “the changing of the right of the Most High” (Psalms 76, 10), interpreted by Saint Paul as “justification in the Spirit” (1 Timothy 3, 16), that is the showing of the title “The Almighty”, as the fountainhead of Resurrection, after the “All-powerful” title, due to the keeping of the Law given through Moses (John 1, 17). The Savior envisioned a direct link between the strong faith of Saint John, that went till sacrifice, and His redemptive sacrifice (Matthew 17, 12-13. The Orthodox icon of the Resurrection shows Saint John behind The Savior when Adam rises from the hell’s dungeons. He has in his hands written the same words as at the Lord’s Baptism: “Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world!” The Orthodox icon “Deisis” shows Saint John on the left side of the Savior, as a witness of Christ’s lordship over the departed ones, together with the Mother who gave Him the body. The blessed dominion over the departed ones is especially witnessed by Saint Apostle Paul (see Romans 14, 9). Christ named Himself “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11, 25), as He also said to Martha, when He told her the gift of Lazarus’ resurrection, adding that he who have faith in Him “even if he dies, he shall live”. So that those in the tombs are not “dead”, but “have slept”, yet waiting mournfully their adoption through body’s redemption (Romans 8, 23), as they have, by the power of their Baptism, the Holy Spirit’s seal (Ephesians 4, 30). By His Resurrection, Christ gave us the hope of Resurrection “as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus our forerunner entered on our behalf” (Hebrews 6, 19-20). God’s promise using an oath is those who “fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6, 18), for whom “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings” (Romans 8, 26). The Son of God has also the Christological title of “the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything” (Colossians 1, 18). The Saviour Himself gave witness: “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Mark 12, 27). In this manner those from the tombs are more alive than those dead in spirit from the earthly life (John 5, 25).
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