Η Κάθοδος του Χριστού στον Άδη (2)

Ο Επιτάφιος της Μονής Βατοπαιδίου (δώρο του αυτοκράτορα Ιωάννη ΣΤ' Καντακουζηνού, 1347-1354)

Αγίου Επιφανίου, Αρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντίας της Κύπρου

ΛΟΓΟΣ

στο Άγιο και Μεγάλο Σαββάτο

Που αναφέρεται

Στη Θεόσωμη Ταφή του Κυρίου και Σωτήρα μας Ιησού Χριστού
και στον Ιωσήφ από την Αριμαθαία, και στην κάθοδο του Κυρίου στον Άδη, που έγινε κατά παράδοξο τρόπο μετά το σωτήριο πάθος.
15. Ας κατεβούμε μαζί με τον Χριστό, ας συγχορέψουμε, ας σπεύσουμε, ας κάνουμε γρήγορα, βλέποντας τη συμφιλίωση του Θεού με τους ανθρώπους, την απελευθέρωση των καταδίκων που κάνει ο αγαθός Κύριος. Γιατί πορεύεται Αυτός που από τη φύση Του είναι φιλάνθρωπος, να αποφυλακίσει τους πανάρχαιους δεσμώτες, με ανδρεία και πολλή δύναμη , αυτούς που βρίσκονται στους τάφους, που κατάπιε τυραννικά ο πικρός και ανήμερος τύραννος, αφού τους υπέταξε και ως ληστής τους άρπαξε από την αγκαλιά του Θεού.

Η Κάθοδος του Χριστού στον Άδη (1)

Αγίου Επιφανίου, Αρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντίας της Κύπρου

ΛΟΓΟΣ

στο Άγιο και Μεγάλο Σαββάτο

Που αναφέρεται

Στη Θεόσωμη Ταφή του Κυρίου και Σωτήρα μας Ιησού Χριστού
και στον Ιωσήφ από την Αριμαθαία, και στην κάθοδο του Κυρίου στον Άδη, που έγινε κατά παράδοξο τρόπο μετά το σωτήριο πάθος.

***

1. Τι είναι αυτό που συμβαίνει σήμερα; Μεγάλη σιωπή είναι απλωμένη στη γη. Μεγάλη σιωπή και ηρεμία. Μεγάλη σιωπή γιατί κοιμάται ο Βασιλιάς. Η γη φοβήθηκε και ησύχασε, επειδή ο Θεός με το σώμα κοιμήθηκε. Ο Θεός με το σώμα πέθανε, και τρόμαξε ο Άδης. Ο Θεός για λίγο κοιμήθηκε, και ανέστησε αυτούς που βρίσκονταν στον Άδη. Πού είναι τώρα οι προ ολίγου ταραχές και οι φωνές και οι παράνομοι θόρυβοι κατά του Χριστού; Πού είναι οι όχλοι και οι εξεγέρσεις και οι στρατιωτικές φρουρές και τα όπλα και οι λόγχες; Πού είναι οι βασιλιάδες και οι ιερείς και οι δικαστές οι καταδικασμένοι; Πού είναι οι αναμμένες δάδες και τα μαχαίρια και οι άτακτες κραυγές; Πού είναι οι όχλοι που εφρύαξαν και η άσεμνη κουστωδία; Εξαφανίστηκαν πραγματικά, γιατί στ’ αλήθεια πραγματικά οι όχλοι έκαναν σχέδια ανόητα και μάταια. Σκόνταψαν πάνω στον ακρογωνιαίο λίθο, τον Χριστό και συντρίφτηκαν οι ίδιοι. Χτύπησαν με μανία τη στέρεη Πέτρα, αλλά διαλύθηκαν σε αφρούς, όπως τα κύματα που κτυπούν στο βράχο. Χτύπησαν πάνω στο ανίκητο αμόνι και οι ίδιοι κομματιάστηκαν. Ανύψωσαν στο ξύλο του Σταυρού την πέτρα και αυτή κύλησε και τους θανάτωσε. Όπως οι Φιλισταίοι τον δυνατό Σαμψών, έδεσαν και αυτοί τον Ήλιο Χριστό, αυτός όμως έσπασε τις πανάρχαιες αλυσίδες και εξόντωσε τους αλλοφύλους και παράνομους. Έδυσε ο Θεός, ο Ήλιος της δικαιοσύνης Χριστός, στη γη και πλάκωσε με πηχτό σκοτάδι τους Ιουδαίους.

An incredible miracle in Serbia (Part 8)

Continued from (7)

The three large groups of people

All these people who had risen and whom I had seen earlier were now grouped together into three large categories. In the first group to the right, there were all those people with bright and smiling faces. To their left, there stood the people with the sad and darkened faces. These were more numerous than the first group. To the far left in the third group, stood this huge and endless mass of people with very dark and evil faces. When I had seen all those faces, the angel started explaining to me:

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An incredible miracle in Serbia (part 7)

Continued from (6)

The awful experience of the tortures in hell

Another cloud was waiting for us there. We went inside and it transferred us somewhere to the west. I have the impression that we did not travel for a long time towards the west because the cloud suddenly changed direction and quickly descended towards a ravine. My angel guide ushered me into a dark place. From the very first steps we took, we descended into darkness so thick and so dark, that no other could be worse than this one. We were hit by a terrible stench from the depth of this darkness and I could barely breathe.

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An incredible miracle in Serbia (part 3)

Continued from (2)

They give testimony to my previous sinful and reckless life

I had still not understood the meaning of those words but I was trembling in fear.  At that moment, a driver motioned me to move in front of him in the row of cars, something which I immediately did without hesitation.

Soon we had reached the accident site and I decided to increase my speed in order to reach the monastery of  Zitsa as soon as possible. And then suddenly a lorry, loaded with building materials, appeared from a side road and slowed us down because he was going on the same direction as us. Therefore, I forced to drive carefully and slowly, because I could not overtake him. This way I was able to view the cars at the back and check if anyone was going to overtake me. When I looked at the back through my side mirror, I witnessed the following incredible vision!

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An incredible miracle in Serbia (part 2)

St. Elijah - Serbian Orthodox Church

Continued from (1)

They know my entire life minute by minute and they remind me of  it

At that moment the monk approached me and said: “God helps” and I replied: “May God help you!” I am not used to giving this kind of reply because I did not believe in God, but I wanted to please him.

He asked me if I could take both of them to the Zitsa monastery. I said “yes” and opened the right passenger door so they could enter and moved the seat to the front so that one of them could sit at the back.

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The human soul without Him becomes hell.

Christ healing the blind

 Sunday of the blind man

Ιn today’s Gospel, the Gospel of the blind man, we heard our Lord say, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5)

What does it mean to have Christ as the light of the world or, on a more personal level, to have Christ as the light of our lives? In order to understand what it means to have Christ as our light, we must first acknowledge our own blindness. Like the man in the Gospel, most of us have been born blind when it comes to God and His Christ. We are unable to see that which is directly in front of us.

The Gift of People

If “hell is other people,” as Sartre concluded, then maybe heaven is too.

Every once in a while we meet someone who leaves an indelible and transforming mark on us. They can be longtime friends, casual acquaintances, or people who cross our path one time only. They can leave us with good or bad memories, yet the effect they have on us is profound, often for reasons we don’t understand. In the rarest and most blessed moments of our life, encounters with such people can serve as signposts that point the way into the Kingdom of Heaven.

I recall a visit to a monastery long ago, and the face of an Orthodox monk who was seated by a window in a small library. He looked up from his book and greeted me with a warm and gracious smile. I don’t remember the few words he spoke, or even the specific subject. What I do remember is his face, what the French call the “regard.”

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Message of the day

Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not.

Saint Silouan the Athonite

Condemned to Immortality: A meditation on the Resurrection

by Archimandrite Dr Justin Popovic

People condemned God to death; with His Resurrection He condemned them to immortality. For striking Him, God returned embraces; for insults, blessings; for death, immortality. Never did men show more hate towards God than when they crucified Him; and God never showed His love towards people more than when He was resurrected. Mankind wanted to make God dead, but God, with His Resurrection, made people alive, the crucified God resurrected on the third day and thereby killed death! There is no more death. Immortality is surrounding man and his entire world.

With the Resurrection of the God-Man, the nature of man is irreversibly led toward the road of immortality and man’s nature becomes destructive to death itself. For until the Resurrection of Christ, death was destructive for man; from the Resurrection of Christ, man’s nature becomes destructive in death. If man lives in the faith of the Resurrected God Man, he lives above death, he is unreachable for her; death is under man’s feet. Death where is thy sting? Hell, where is thy victory? And when a man who believes in Christ dies, he only leaves his body as his clothes, in which he will be dressed again on the Day of Last Judgment.

Before the Resurrection of the God-Man, death was the second nature of man; life was first and death was second. Man became accustomed to death as something natural. But after His Resurrection the Lord changed everything: and it was only natural until Christ’s Resurrection, that the people became mortal, so after Christ’s Resurrection it was natural that the people became immortal.

Through sin, man becomes mortal and temporal; with the Resurrection of the God-Man, he becomes immortal and eternal. In this lies the strength, in this lies the power, in this lies the might of Christ’s Resurrection. Without the Resurrection there is no Christianity. Among the miracles, this is the greatest one; all other miracles begin and end with it. From it sprouted the faith and the love and the hope and the prayer and the love toward God.

 from «Philosophical Cliffs»

A description of Hell by the Elder Paisios

– Elder, what is Hell like?- Let me tell you a story that I’ve heard:

Once there was a simple man who kept asking God to show him what Paradise and Hell are like…

So, one night, in his sleep, he heard a voice saying: «Come, let me show you what Hell looks like».

He suddenly found himself in a room, where many people were seated around a table. In the middle of that table was a pot filled with food. But all those people were hungry, because they were unable to eat. They each held a very long spoon in their hand. They were able to take food out of the pot, but couldn’t bring the spoon to their mouth. Because of this, some were complaining, others were shouting, others were weeping…