Let God arise

The following passages are excerpted from the blog Glory to God for All Things, by Fr Stephen. To read his entire post, On Pascha - Melito of Sardis, click the linked title. This is a breathtaking testimony.

Among the most powerful meditations on Pascha is found in the writings of Melito of Sardis (ca. 190 AD). His writing On Pascha is both a work of genius as poetry and a powerful work of theology. Its subject is the Lord’s Pascha – particularly as an interpretation of the Old Testament. His writing is a common example of early Church thought on Scripture and the Lord’s Pascha. I offer a short verse, a meditation reflecting on the first-born of Egypt, who die in the Old Testament Pascha. He speaks of the darkness of death, and the grasping of Hades:

If anyone grasped the darkness he was pulled away by death. And one of the first born, grasping the material darkness in his hand, as his life was stripped away, cried out in distress and terror: “Whom does my hand hold? Whom does my soul dread? Who is the dark one enfolding my whole body? If it is a father, help me. If it is a mother, comfort me. If it is a brother, speak to me. If it is a friend, support me. It it is an enemy, depart from me, for I am a first-born.” Before the first-born fell silent, the long silence held him and spoke to him: “You are my first-born, I am your destiny, the silence of death.”

The poetry is poignant – the words of death as horrifying as any ever spoken, “I am your destiny, the silence of death.” When translated into existential terms, we become both the first-born of the Egyptians, and the first-born of Israel. As the first born of Egypt, we too often know our destiny, the silence of death. We know the emptiness of our lives and the hollow constructs of the ego. We know the silence of prayer – not the deep mystical silence of union with God – but the empty silence that hints that no one is listening…

…On the night of Pascha, the priest stands before the closed doors of a darkened Church and cries, “Let God arise! Let His enemies be scattered! Let those who hate Him flee before His face!” It is the eternal cry of God over His creation. We were not created for death. We were not created for meaninglessness. We were not created for the empty imaginations of modern philosophers. We were created for God and He has come to save us!