NEBAB #59 Tinsae
NEBAB #59
The Orthodox Tewahedo Magazine
THE RESURRECTION
Melkam Tensae
Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Archdiocese of the Caribbean and Latin America
Christ is Risen From The Dead
With Great Power and Authority
He bound satan, He freed Adam
Peace
Henceforth
Let there be
Hapiness and Peace!
The Resurrection of Our Lord is glorious, both magnificent and full of wonder because He trod upon death as upon sleep and rose victorious.
He carried the iniquity of the world and slept like Ezekiel. He died to sin and rose up from the tomb without corruption. All debts of all peoples everywhere, the Mighty One carried and remained on the Cross but He did not become weak.
The whole iniquity of the whole world in every place, He carried to His death and was not corrupted when He rose up. The sins of the people took flesh in Him and He immolated them. Iniquity died in Him and He rose up with power but iniquity did not rise up. He carried the burden of debts and became wearied as Ezekiel. Then He had been sealed up for three days as He carried them. The Mighty One carried the iniquity of the earth which was greater than mountains, and the sufferings dragged Him along but He did not lay it aside until He had brought it to an end. The Father ordained for Him three days to reamin in Sheol so that in their number the iniquity of the world should be consumed. The Omniscient One weighed the sins of the world and the death of His Son and set a limit that by how much duration they would be destroyed. For all generations, the Redeemer died for three days; and the iniquity of all He carried off by His death and set them free. He bound sin and fastened it with nails and died as well as put it to death. By His death, He killed it and He himself rose up but He left it in Sheol. He had carried the sins and delivered His body to be pierced through and by His wounds, He battered them until they were done away with!
Saint Cyril of Alexandria in his exposition of the resurrection, stresses the eschatological character of Jesus' Resurrection (the word eschatological relates to the end times). The Father gave to the Son those who believe in Him (i.e Christ) in order to save them in the day of Christ's Second Coming. Through the death of HIs flesh, Jesus paved the way for the Resurrection of the humans. Jesus Christ is the First born among the Dead. Because of His rising up, the believers can now imitate Him and be saved through their obedience to Him. Furthermore, the Resurrection of Jesus provided the human nature with the ability to resurrect in the Holy Spirit as we are going to see now.
The Resurrection of Jesus is not suffocated in a mere moralism but has certain ontological implications for the humans. Jesus vivifies and resurrects the dead as God. His resurrection delivered the human nature from guiltiness and His obedience destroyed the ancient curse. Cyril's terminology seems truly to be legal and moralistic. Yet, we are in the opinion that his thought lies beyond such categoreis as it can be seen in what we have said about the ontological dimensions of the resurrection and are also going to see in the next paragraph.
Cyril says that through His resurrection we are justified in Christ and further we are justified in HIm through our faith in His death and resurrection. As Dratselas points out, the justificaiton in Cyril's thought has two sides, negative and the positive: negatively, justificaiton means the forgiveness of sins and positively the divinisation of the humans, that means consecration to the Holy God, or man's preference to do God's Will, win which case implies the sacrifice of man's self. In his Oratio and Theodosium Cyril, interpreting 1 Corinthians 15:49 "and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" stresses that the image of the earthly is our tendency to sin, hence, dying, whilst the image of the heavenly is the image of Christ, the expression indicating our firmly possessing the sanctity as well as our being recalled from the corruption and our restoration in the incorruptibility and life
“Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:"
— Romans 6:8 (KJV)
The Great Fast was about dying with our Lord through hunger and thirst, prostration, and denial of ourselves. Now we celebrate His resurrection from the dead for 50 days, how can we live with Him in this feast? Here are some ideas:
Watch the Sunrise: It is a privilege to rise from sleep, and every Christian must rise up and pray, thanking and glorifying God Who gives us the day. The sunrise has long been used for symbolism, primarily for the birth of Christ from the Virgin Mary, and His resurrection from the dead. Watching the sun rise and enlighten the world, ending the darkness of night, is a good "remembrance" of the Resurrection.
*Remembrance refers to using some object or phenomenon in your environment (often in the natural world) to remind you of God and of His works. E.g. watching birds find food to remind you of how God provides for you (Luke 12:24).
Plant your Garden: Even though it is the dry season, this is still a good time of year to begin planting for some species. As you plant, set aside some of what you grow for the poor, and some for a feast day near the harvest time for that plant. Our Lord has given us new life, and we can learn a lot by nurturing new life in our plants.
Go and tell His disciples: Our church gave us a living story of the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord in Passion Week and Easter. Don't hesitate to share your experience of Passion Week and the feast of the Resurrection with one another, and even with those of other denominations! The Resurrection we witnessed was meant to be preached to everyone.
"Fast with Christ, Fasika with Christ." - Ri'se Liqawint Abba Gebrekidan, Resurrection Homily 2018 (2026)
Why is the Resurrection of Christ Considered the Feast of Feasts?
In order to answer this question properly, we must consider a few important things. Many other religions speak symbolically of "dying to oneself", or the importance of recreation, or new life... and while these themes and patterns are found in a variety of expressions, no faith other than Christianity is willing to make the extremely bold claim that God took on the form of a servant, became human and even died in the flesh for our sakes. But He did not simply die, He defeated death in rising from the dead! This unique claim is the cornerstone of our fiath. Our God is the author of life and has even conquered death. For this reason, we no longer fear death, dare I say, we look forward to it, because we believe that He will raise us up also into everlasting life with Him.
THERE was a certain honourable and blessed man who had a wife who was honourable and holy. And after they were married they made a covenant together that they would dwell together in a state of purity for the rest of the days of their lives. And after many days, when he was sleeping on a certain Friday morning, the lust of the flesh attacked him; but the woman did not wish to approach him, and she said unto him, “Art thou not afraid of God? And wilt thou not keep the covenant that is between us? Moreover, this is the night of the eve of the Sabbath.' “But the man did not turn away at her words. And when the woman knew that he would not let her alone, she said unto him, "Whomsoever thou shalt beget this night shall belong to Satan"'; and at that moment she conceived by him. And when the days of her conception were ended, she brought forth a man child of exceedingly great beauty and fine form. And when he grew up and had reached the age of twelve years, Satan appeared unto his mother, and said unto her," Remember thou this day, and mark well that three years hence thou shalt give unto me him whom thou didst vow unto me." And whensoever the woman looked at her son she was stricken with sorrow, and she wept bitterly; and the youth marvelled and asked his mother [why], but she neither revealed the matter to him nor talked to him about it. And when her sorrow increased her son forced her to tell him the cause of it, and she told him all that had happened, and how Satan had appeared unto her, and what he had saith unto her. And when her son heard his mother's words he was afraid, but he placed his trust upon the asylum with our glorious God and hoped for His mercy, and he took [off] [from her] for help. And he departed to the city of Our Lady MARY, the mediatress, and sought [a] letter for him and sent to the Bishop of Jerusalem; Rômê, and he took counsel with the Pâpâ who wrote, and he went to Jerusalem and told the Bishop all his affair. And the Bishop wrote a letter and sent it to a certain solitary monk (or, anchorite). And when the youth came to that anchorite, before the angels [who] ministered and brought his food from heaven could declare his business the monk knew it. And he [had] hope for us in taking asylum with our Lady, [and] said unto him, "Fear thou not, O my son. There is MARY, the arbitrix and intercessor, and she will help us." And the anchorite made the youth to stand between him and the altar, at the time of consecrating [the Mysteries], for he was afraid for him. When, how ever, the day of the appointed time came for Satan to take the youth away, he caught him as he stood by the altar at the moment when the monk was celebrating the Divine Mysteries, and took him down into Sheol and to the punishment that appertaineth thereto. And when the youth saw this he cried out in his great fright and called upon the name of our Lady MARY, the merciful one and intercessor, the hope of sinners and the glory of believers; and she delivered him quickly from Sheol, and restored him to the anchorite. And when the anchorite said, "Peace be to all of you," the youth replied, "with thy spirit "; and when the anchorite had finished the consecration the youth told him what he had seen. And the anchorite rejoiced and praised God, gave thanks unto our Lady MARY. And thereupon the anchorite rose up and pronounced a blessing over his head, and committed him to the care of our Lady MARY, and he said unto him, "My son, I commit thee to the care of her who delivereth those who commit themselves to her." And he sent him to his parents, so that they might see him and rejoice. And the young man used to declare the excellence of our Lady MARY at all times.
ትንሣኤ
ትንሣኤ tənśaʾe is derived from the root verb ነሥአ (näśʾa) meaning to rise or to be raised and in its fuller form ተንሥአ (tänśʾa) means he rose or he was raised referring to the Resurrection of Christ. From this root we can encounter
ተንሣኢ (tänśaʾi) — one who rises or the risen one
ማንሣት (mansat) — to raise up, to lift (causative sense)
ንሥአት (nəśʾat) — rising, elevation
While etymology relies on hypotheses more often than concrete evidence, the best hypothesis we have is that Easter comes from the ancient Germanic word "aust" referring to the sunrise, and by extension, the place where the sun rises from- hence, the "east". East-er uses this sunrise association when referring to the Lord's resurrection, which occurs when England is verdant with new springtime life, which is our best estimate for why the English people referred to this feast as "Easter".
The EOTC, evangelising and serving people who speak English, did not avoid this English term, nor of other English words which we know actually did originate from the worship of idols. We serve the people in their language, and according to their condition, in the example of our fathers the apostles.
Miracle of Mary: 110 Miracles of Our Lady Mary | tr. E.A. Wallis Budge
Commentary by St. Markos Church, Egypt and Fr. Malaty
Commentary by St Cyril of Alexandria
Commentary by St Jacob of Serug
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