Sunday, May 2, 2021

Quote from Elder Ephraim of Arizona on Holy Pascha

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!
The Resurrection of Christ (source)

March 24th, 1980. Holy Pascha.

Today is the Resurrection of Christ.

"Come, receive the light, from the never-setting light..."

O, never-setting, perfect light that never sets, surpassingly bright and surpassingly white, O how you magnetize my nous, my soul, my heart! I desire you endlessly, with love and eros unending. When will I be made worthy of the gift of the compassion of my Most-Holy God the Father, to partake of You unto the ages of ages!

My unworthiness troubles me, that I am not worthy of such a place among the saved, but I am worthy of hell and of eternal punishment.

The Resurrection, the eternal Pascha, attracts me terribly. It draws me above the state of things. Above heaven. Above to the sure desire, which I greatly desire to find. But, when will this occur?

O Pascha, together with the Angels, with the Saints, dressed in white, who so greatly desire me and attract me! New songs and unspeakable words are chanted and praised to God, with an awesome, but also unspeakable peace and serenity.

O Pascha, without end, and transformation of the unspeakable joy and Festival! My Father and my God, preserve me from every evil that I myself might be made worthy, I the refuse, one day to be found at that Pascha which cannot be described in human words, nor expressed and spoken of.

Rejoice and exalt, you to as well, O my Lady Theotokos, at the arising of Your Son and God. In the divine beauty of your Son and God, remember me, the wretched one, that I might be found together with you in the eternal Pascha!

...It is the day of Resurrection, let us brilliantly shine forth, O people, Pascha, the Lord's Pascha.

I greet you this year, my Pascha.

(source)

Elder Ephraim at Pascha at St. Anthony's Monastery, Arizona (source)

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, He has granted life!

Truly He is risen!

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