The Crucifixion and the Resurrection: Why? — Fr. Theologos

Why was the Crucifixion necessary? And what does Christ’s Resurrection bring us? What does Easter signify? If Christ were to come today, what would happen?

The answers to these questions, as well as others, can be found by watching this video.

Enjoy!

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us! Amen.

At one point, a young and enthusiastic monk said to his abbot, “Gheronda, how wonderful it would have been to have lived in the time of Christ and to have known the Lord! How beautiful it must have been there with the Holy Apostles!” However, the abbot replied thoughtfully and with great restraint: “My child, I am afraid that if I had been there then, I believe I would have crucified Him!”

You know, I am reminded now of venerable Father Seraphim Rose, who said, “If the Lord were to come among us again today, we would crucify Him again.” Of course, a masterful description of a hypothetical second coming of Christ on earth is provided by Mr. Fyodor Dostoevsky in the chapter “The Grand Inquisitor” from the famous book “The Brothers Karamazov.” I hope you have read it. If not, I have even posted the audio segment “The Grand Inquisitor” on the website. You can look it up.

In “The Grand Inquisitor,” we witness a monologue that is impressive in its tragedy, in which, even though at first glance the Grand Inquisitor seems to be trying to convince Christ that He has utterly failed, that He has completely failed in His work, in fact, we see that the Grand Inquisitor is trying to convince himself and, through the desperation of the relentless logic he uses, shows that Christ is actually right. Do you understand?

You see, love is above logic. Above interest and passion is virtue, which grants freedom, and in fact, this was the reason for Christ’s crucifixion: Christ came to bring us freedom – the freedom of virtue, the freedom of love, yet we have preferred and still prefer the slavery of our passions. Do you understand?

The great problem is that the light of virtue attracts us, but we do not wish to escape the darkness of passions, and because we do not want to escape the hideousness of this darkness, we rather prefer to extinguish the light than to struggle to emerge from the darkness. Envy, brethren, also affects those who seem perfect, especially if they are so-called perfect in material things, because matter, through its death and inability to love, generates insecurity and loneliness. The fleshly man, the material man, is the one who focuses on fleshly, material things, that is, on the things of this world which, by their very nature, are transitory things that close, darken, limit, and scatter, fragment, the mind. Why? Due to the multitude of limited things and the relationships between them that the mind is forced to manage. That’s the fall of Adam, brethren.

Beyond all these devastating side effects, man loses the capacity for love because matter, the body, does not have the loving power necessary to respond with the analogous love that a person expects. The material man is, in fact, alone, he is limited. Do you understand? The spiritual man is far superior because his mind is united and illuminated by the intelligent and loving rays of the personal God. He uses only logic for matter, a logic subjected to the mind. The difference between the spiritual man and the physical man is the difference between the divine man and the enslaved man [who is] existentially rachitic.

As I was saying, the main problem is that slaves do not want to escape their slavery because they lack the faith necessary to take the leap into the void that lies beyond the limitations of their logic, beyond the limitations of their material knowledge. Thus, these slaves become very harsh, extremely harsh – we are these slaves and we see ourselves in our harshness. And why are we harsh? Because we cling to our passions, which become our idols, and when the light of the true God comes, we react brutally, very brutally.

Normally, the slaves who were healed should have thanked Christ and given Him an ovation – which is what happened in the case of miracles – but in the case of His teaching, you see that the Jews reacted so brutally that they were not content to eliminate Christ—that is, to imprison or denigrate Him, to exile Him, or, God forbid, even to kill Him with the sword, without torment. They were so brutal that the anger of the selfish slaves was so great that they wanted to kill Him in the worst possible way. Crucifixion is the worst death because it is the only death that involved a curse. Do you understand? It is written in the Old Testament, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” Do you understand? And they desired this even when Pilate said: “What evil has He done?” They found no reason, gave no answer, but only shouted with hatred, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” and this after He had done them so much good, healed so many of them. Do you understand?

Not even an ordinary person would deserve such behavior. Well, here’s the problem: Jesus was not an ordinary man. He was true God and true Man. He was perfect. And we, the fallen, cannot withstand perfection unless we are humble. If we have the flexibility of humility, that is, of obedience. Brethren, let us not say that only the Jews are to blame. Think about it: if a simple 33-year-old craftsman came to us wearing only his tunic and told us, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none,” how do we feel? At least some of us would say, “You mean I should give away things I have worked for? Let them work, let them earn money.” Something like that. Do you understand?

We all feel the pressure on us, especially if this simple carpenter, this simple man, works miracles that boggle our minds, and He Himself is of the greatest mercy and detachment from possessions. Or, to raise the pressure a little, what would you say if this simple 33-year-old carpenter appeared in today’s Russia or Ukraine or at the helm of the US or China and said, “Love your enemies”? To the Ukrainians on the front lines, “You must love the Russians,” to the Russians, “You must love the Ukrainians,” and to the American leadership, “You must love the Russians and the Chinese.” Or to say to a mother who lost her child on the front lines in Ukraine, with great love and compassion, “You know, my dear one, to get over this trauma, you must love those who killed your son and pray that God enlightens them; your son is eternal—he is in God’s arms now.” And for this young person to demonstrate through his personal example that this is so, that this is the right behavior, and that this is how we are freed. This is Christ, brethren! Do you understand?

If He had appeared now on the war front, I think we would have shot Him on the spot. Do you understand? Truly, His teaching is so lofty that miracles were needed for us to believe that this teaching [which is] above the world is truly possible, that it really works, that it really succeeds despite everything our logic tells us, logic that is terribly distorted by our selfishness, distorted by sin, by death. No one could believe that this was the path to Resurrection, to eternal life, if it weren’t for the miracles. Do you understand?

Unfortunately, our darkened mind cannot simply accept the concrete teaching of Christ, the perfectly loving One. Because this teaching is too lofty. Far too high. This is true even in the case of, say, the commandment of forgiveness. In order to have peace, unity, love, and obedience among us, we must forgive one another. Now, to forgive someone who has wronged you, or whom you believe has wronged you, to forgive them in your heart and not respond in kind… well, that’s manageable; even that is sometimes difficult, isn’t it? Because you don’t want to forgive them in your heart.

To say to the other person, “Please forgive me!”—well, that’s even more difficult, very difficult sometimes. The dark horn of Adam’s sin rises within us, and we do not want to say, “Please forgive me!” Even though, brethren, we’re not losing anything— on the contrary: we’re winning! However, we don’t want to say that! Do you understand? Well, all the more so, brethren, since the Holy Fathers and Holy Apostle Paul say that true forgiveness is when we weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. That is, you know you have forgiven your enemy when you truly rejoice in their successes and grieve sincerely over their troubles. When you are one with them.

Well, brethren, this is sometimes very, very difficult—it feels as if something inside us breaks. And yet, this is what must be done. But it takes time and prayer for the enemy of each one of us. But because we do not want to crucify ourselves in this way, we live in a world of separation, of war, of death, and of conflict between us. Do you understand?

You see, because of this, because of the brutality and sadness of sin, of selfishness, of disobedience, and of death, Christ, immediately after rising, said to the myrrh-bearing women, “Do not be afraid!” “Rejoice!” Why? Because, primarily, women are more affected by fear and sadness. Do you understand? And He said to the Apostles, “Peace be with you!” because men are mainly troubled when it comes to sin, distortion, and injustice. Of course, these commandments apply to everyone: we must not be afraid, brethren, but we must rejoice and be peaceful. God is all-loving, providing security in an eternal embrace where no explanation or words are needed, only love in silent clarity—side by side. Do you understand?

You see, this was Christ’s stance toward Pilate. Christ’s silence impressed Pilate far more than if He had tried to defend Himself and argued with the high priests. Christ’s presence was formidable, brethren. Pilate was a power-hungry governor; he loved his position, desperately wanted to be king, and feared Emperor Tiberius because of that. And then, something remarkable happened in this situation: another Emperor appeared before him, a 33-year-old young Man, who—ironically! —proved to be an Emperor, and Pilate realized this. And—something inconceivable for Pilate—he felt, he realized that the Emperor before him was not a threat to him or his position. Why? Because he realized that this poor beaten Man before him was far superior to him and everyone around, and because of this, he tried to save Him.

Pilate tried to save Christ. At one point, defeated by Jesus’ loving and humble silence, Pilate said with a restraint that actually concealed weakness: “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Say something so I can save You! Do you understand? You see, Christ’s virtue, His gentleness and calmness so impressed Pilate that this pagan somehow believed that He was indeed the Son of God, of course, all of this within the confusion of the paganism in which Pilate lived. Brethren, to understand, let us bring things to the present so you can see the extraordinariness of the situation.

Consider, for example, if in an occupied and rebellious country, such as Judea was at the time, for instance in French Guinea, which—I don’t know if you know—is a French territory in South America, a group of local priests come with a 33-year-old native young man to the prefect—whoever that may be—that is, to the representative of France there, and they shout at him: “You see, this young man must die because he says he is the Son of God.” Well, what would the Frenchman do? He would laugh, wave them off uninterestedly, and say: “Alright, calm down, or I’ll have you all committed to a mental hospital” or, well, to jail, if the shamans’ threat seems serious. Then he would go to the young man and say, “Go on, go home, calm down, stop saying things like that, and take care of yourself!” – he might even give him something to eat, some clothes – something like that.

But see that when Pilate heard from the high priests that He was the Son of God, he feared even more. Why? Because Jesus truly looked and behaved like a Son of God—but not as people expected Him to be – as we fallen ones expect Him to be – a political Messiah. And because of that, since he saw that He was a spiritual Messiah, he tried to save Him, but he was defeated by his passions—by his love of power. This is the mistake Pilate made.

Pilate shows the impossibility of a capable diplomat —he was very capable—but worldly of course, in judging according to justice. He could not judge according to justice. Enlightenment from God is needed. You see that Pilate bends under the pressure of the high priests who blackmail him with a denunciation to Caesar and he bends before the crowds who want Barabbas – that is, rebellion, murder, and sin instead of Jesus, who is love and spirituality incarnate.

Brethren, don’t say that this happened then, and that it won’t happen again today: look on YouTube or the internet and see how many views and likes any spiritual father you like has, and compare those to the views of one of the successful manele singers or violent films and so on, and you’ll see for yourselves who people prefer. Pilate realized that this was a great injustice and—as I said—that Jesus was innocent, and even though his mind was clouded, he sensed that Jesus is divine. What does he do? He washes his hands and says fearfully: “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” Why? He knew that the issue was burning, that it was very serious. It is, in fact, the inability of this world, of political leaders, and especially of religious leaders with passions, to manage the presence of Christ before them.

No leader and no person ruled by the passions can handle the presence of Christ before them. Actually… is it only the presence, brethren? Even Christ’s death was something that frightened them, because Christ’s death concealed the Resurrection, and their conscience bore witness to this. Yes, brethren, there was a tremendous pressure on everyone. Remember that even the pagan officer who was in charge of the crucifixion was frightened and exclaimed, “Truly, this was the Son of God!” when he saw how He died, thereby opposing all those who were jeering and aggressively mocking the Lord. He put his foot down in front of all of them. As an aside, you should know that this pagan became a saint following this experience – this is Holy Martyr Longinus the Centurion.

Returning to the pressure of conscience, you see that the high priests went to Pilate and ordered him to send guards at the tomb so that the disciples would not come and steal the body and claim that Jesus had risen from the dead. Brethren, if Jesus had been a mere man, it would be like the natives of French Guinea going to the French governor there to pressure him to send guards at the tomb of one of the enemy tribe lest he rise from the dead. No way, brethren, let’s be serious!

Or why speak about the natives there? You see, here in our skete, we love the fathers of the skete very much, and the fathers love us very much too, both me and Father Abbot Pimen. Now, if Father Abbot were to die and I dug up his body and threw it into a ravine or hid it somewhere in the forest, and then went to the fathers and said: “Glory to God! Fathers, Father Pimen has risen!” – the fathers would lovingly say to me: “Father Theologos, here, have some linden flower tea, since it’s calming, take some valerian too, it’s a sleep aid, and go lie down.” Do you understand?

In the case of Jesus, it was not so, brethren – you see that the terrified high priests came to Pilate to pressure him, and on the other hand, Pilate, also terrified, refused them, knowing that the matter was serious, saying to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” Why were they afraid, brethren? Because their hearts told them that this Man can really rise from the dead. He really can rise from the dead, and they were trying to patch things up somehow, trying to cover up this possibility, trying to stop the Resurrection which was imminent for their conscience, even though their passionate will didn’t want it.

Well, how does human nature sense that someone’s resurrection is imminent? I said that death is separation, parting, hatred. So, life is love, unity in the Holy Spirit. Life is, therefore, sacrifice and obedience. You see that Christ asked people, “What do you want me to do?” How come, [He asked] “What do you want me to do?” He was God and knew very well what the man wanted, but He said this to show that He is not doing His own will, but that He performs miracles because He obeys the needs of the person who asks Him to perform the miracle. That’s why He asked, “What do you want me to do?” Do you understand?

Christ was always loving, He never hated anyone, any soul, He did not break away from anyone, He did no harm, and because of this, the souls of the global Adam knew that death, separation, had no power over Him, even though these souls, being distorted, wished for His death. They even pierced Him with a spear to be sure that He had died. I remind you here that we, all souls, all persons, should be intertwined in one man, just as God is one God formed of three intertwined Persons —the Holy Trinity.

In our case, due to sin, death, separation, and lack of love, this intertwining, this union, this connection is much weaker, but it still exists, especially when at least one of the persons restores the union through their great capacity for love, a capacity that counterbalances the lack of love of the other person with whom they are connecting. Because Christ is perfect love, He is the source of perfect love, this immense, boundless force of His love has influenced all souls around Him and beyond—in fact, all of global Adam throughout the entire space-time continuum in which souls have existed. This is salvation: restoration through love, through sacrifice, of the original and primordial unity of the global Adam, who was fragmented by sin and selfishness. Reunification in complete unity.

Of course, Pilate, and the high priests, and the Jews also felt this immense love, but they were not more or less prepared to receive it, brethren. Why? Because they were more or less distorted by sin, and because of this, they were more or less afraid that Love would rise again and torment them with its presence. In fact, brethren, this is the torment of hell: the inability to love, the inability to respond to love. Saint Isaac the Syrian says that the greatest scourge in Hell is the scourge of God’s love, meaning that you are surrounded by perfect love, yet your heart is petrified and embittered, and you can no longer respond, you can no longer feel this love, you believe that everything is false, a hypocrisy.

Hell is existential distortion, existential torment, and through the lens of the existential distortion of the lack of love, everything is seen as distorted. Do you understand? You see that Christ descended into hell and brought the righteous out of there. Why and how did He bring them out? Why? Because before Christ, no soul could be saved, that is, no one could love God and neighbors enough to overcome the barrier of hatred, of distortion between us, and therefore, all ended up in hell. How did He bring them out? Well, it’s obvious, if we take into account what I said earlier. That is, when Christ descended into hell, a huge wave exploded there, a huge wave of luminous love—like a bomb of love, like a shockwave, in all the souls held in the dark solitude of the lack of love.

He gave them love, brethren. Those among the cowering souls who awaited the light of saving love, united with it (love) and came out of there, came out of hell and were raised. Those who did not, closed themselves off forever in the bitterness of their own selfishness. As we can see, brethren, Christ was most active in His death itself, in His very descent into Hell, because, as we know and experience, the Word of God can never be dead forever, but is alive and active, sharper than a double-edged sword, as Scripture says.

Do you understand? You see, the Resurrection of Christ is crucial. Why? Because Christ is, first and foremost, the first Man Who Raised Himself and, above all, is the first Resurrection that overcomes death, that is, the first Man Who loved completely and never hated. Christ has conquered death, our greatest enemy. It is absolutely necessary to see this because none of us, those who sit in the shadow of death, as Scripture says, could have imagined that this is the path that leads to Resurrection. Now we know because we have seen Christ, and after Him we have countless examples of saints who imitated Him and transcended the limitations of nature, becoming gods by grace.

I know people who have seen the Risen Christ. I know people who were saints—Saint Dionysius of Colciu, for example. Overcoming death means overcoming limitations of any kind. First of all, overcoming loneliness and the limitations of hatred and reaching this loving union between us. Complete union with God and with others through the intertwining of souls—perichoresis, as it is called in theology—and through this intertwining of souls, through this union of souls, we attain full knowledge and complete beauty through perfect love between us, through the total sharing of experiences and thoughts between us.

Then, overcoming loneliness is the overcoming of physical limitations, the limitations of the forces between particles of matter – being able to pass through walls – overcoming the space-time continuum, overcoming the forces of gravity, overcoming decay and corruption, overcoming everything. You see that the Savior appears and disappears, passes through locked doors like a spirit, and after that, eats a piece of fish and honeycomb to prove that He has a body. Do you understand?

After that, He changes His face so as not to be recognized by Saints Luke and Cleopas on the road to Emmaus and, later, He creates fire and food out of nothing on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias when He calls the Apostles again and reinstates Peter. He does exactly what He wants with matter and, in the end, of course, He ascends to heaven without any flying device, without anything.

This means total power over Creation, brethren, a power that no one can have unless they love completely and sacrifice themselves intentionally and totally in order to unite completely with Creation, following the example of the Savior and all His saints. To do this, however, we must begin with humility—we must humble ourselves and accept that if we had lived in Christ’s time, we would most likely have crucified Him. Let us therefore ask Him to forgive us and deliver us from the distortion within us so that we may be like Him and with Him.

May the Benevolent God help us to rise as well, united with our risen Lord! Thank you for being alongside on the path of the Cross and the Resurrection! Christ is risen! Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us! Amen.

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