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CHRIST IS RISEN!
We begin publishing selected letters sent by Fr. David Cownie to the subscribers of St. Juvenaly of Alaska mission fund in Etna. We hope you'll find them useful as we did.
March 21, 2007 O.S.
Great & Holy Tuesday
Parable of the 10 Virgins
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Father David Cownie
Presbytera Juliana
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Cristos Anesti! Christ is Risen!
March began with snow on the ground and ended with flowers everywhere. The trees are now blooming in the Scott Valley and the whites, pinks and yellows are a great relief from the gray gloom of winter (which we thought was never going to leave). A magnificent full moon is rising over the eastern hills, lighting up the snow on the mountains to the West. The moon illumines the clouds at night and makes them seem less distant. They appear closer in the moonlight as they soften the harshness of the shadows below.
As the commemoration of Our Lord's Passion approaches, we should review in our minds the great wonders that occurred around Him even as His Soul was separating from that life-giving Body. St Nikolai Velimorovic explains it so well: "And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose" Matt. 27:52.
"Oh, what a great sign! The dead bodies of holy men and women recognized Him who had expired in agony upon the Cross, but the dead souls of the Jewish elders did not know Him. All creation was moved, but the souls of the evil-doers, Annas and Caiaphas and Herod, were not moved. The dead saints showed themselves more perceptive than the living sinners. And, indeed, how could the holy dead remain insensitive to the Creator on the Cross when even insensate stones could not remain unmoved? When the very earth shook and the sun was darkened at this event, how could the bodies of the righteous lie in their graves when they had fulfilled His ancient Law, hoped for life in Him, prophesied about Him and closed their eyes in the hope of His coming?
Oh, what a great sign! What a great comfort for us who hope in the Resurrection! In our weakness and smallness of faith, we might say: 'Christ is risen indeed, but shall we also rise? Christ is risen by His power, but how shall we rise? And who knows if God will raise us up also in His power?' Here is our consolation and here is our proof ? 'and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose'. This means that death cannot destroy even ordinary men. It means that even those who are so infinitely less than Christ are not dead as stones, but rather alive like the angels. It means that our own bodies will awake from the grave and we shall live. Everything that God has spoken is confirmed, and confirmed, moreover, with innumerable proofs. Aware of the weakness of our faith, He has fulfilled and proved this prophecy of resurrection not only by His own Resurrection but also by the awakening of many bodies from the grave at the time of His own death.
Oh, my brethren, not one of us can have the slightest excuse for disbelief in life after death."
Father Akakios wishes you a Blessed Pascha Season. He thanks you for your prayers and support.
Sinful priest
Father David Cownie
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