The Resurrection Letters
THE RESURRECTION LETTERS
That is why one of the ancient saints, acknowledging God's grace and his own inability to repay it, said, "What shall I pay the Lord for all He has done for me?" (Ps. 116:12). He knew that instead of the death he deserved, he had been given life.
He had been given freedom to replace his old slavery to sin.
And he had received the kingdom of heaven instead of the grave and hell.
As we know, in the old days, "Death reigned from Adam to Moses" (Rom. 5:14). On the other hand, we have heard the voice of our Lord say, "Today you shall be with Me in Paradise"
(Luke 23:43). That is why we find the ancient saints saying, "Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul would have dwelt in hell" (Ps. 94:17). Acknowledging the gift and his own inability to pay for it, the psalmist wrote, "I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord .
. precious in His sight is the death of His saints" (Ps. 116:13, 15).
With regard to His cup, our Lord said, "Are you able to drink of that cup which I am about to drink of?" (Matt. 20:22). And when His disciples indicated that they thought they were, He added, "You shall indeed drink of My cup; but as to whether you should sit on My right hand and on My left, that is not Mine to give; but to those for whom it is prepared" (Matt.
20:23).
So, my dear friends, let us be aware of the gift He has given us, even though we are unable to repay it. As far as we are able, however, let us rise to the occasion. Of course, human nature does not have the capacity to repay the Word (Christ) for such a great gift as salvation. Still, we can thank Him, even while we stand in reverent awe of Him.
In fact, how can we be more reverent than by acknowledging that God, loving humanity so much, has given such wonderful gifts to us? If we do, we shall certainly be obedient to His law and keep His commandments, and we will not be thought of as unthankful lawbreakers, doing things that ought to be despised.
Remember, the Lord loves the thankful.
There is, therefore, nothing more appropriate for us to do than to offer ourselves to the Lord as did the saints of old. Let us dedicate ourselves to living not to ourselves but to the Lord,
LETTER V
who died for us. St. Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ, but I am alive; yet not I, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20).
PROPERLY ACKNOWLEDGING GOD'S GIFTS
Consequently, dear friends in the faith, our life consists in putting the things of our Savior above the desires of our bodies.
That is why the present holy season requires that we not only say such words, but that we also imitate the deeds of the godly believers who have gone before us. We imitate them when we confess Him who died; when we no longer live for ourselves but have Christ living in us; when we repay the Lord to the best of our ability — that is, not by giving anything of our own, but by returning what we have received from Him.
It is a special matter of His grace that what He asks from us is what He has given us. For He tells us, "My offerings are My own gifts" (cf. Num. 28:2, Septuagint). In other words, those things which we give Him are ours, received from Him, but they are gifts of God. Well, then, let us offer to the Lord virtuous lives and the true holiness He calls for. Yes, with all devotion and reverence let us keep the Feast to Him with those things He has sanctified for us.
THE JEWS AND THE SCHISMATICS REPROVED
As we then begin the holy pre-Easter fasts, let us treat them as having been prescribed to us by Him as a means of focusing our attention on God. We must not take the attitude held by the heathen, or the ignorant Jews, or the present-day heretics and schismatics. The heathen think the Feast is accomplished by having a big meal with an enormous abundance of food. The Jews, being mistaken about the fulfillment of the type and shadow of the Feast, still think of it in terms of the days in which it was first given. And the schismatics keep it in places apart from the church, with wild ideas about the meaning.
So, brothers and sisters, let us be superior to the heathen, keeping the Feast with sincerity of soul and purity of body. Let us also do better than the Jews, by recognizing far more than
THE RESURRECTION LETTERS
shadow and type in the Feast. Oh yes, for we are people on whom the light of truth shines and who look to the Sun of Righteousness (Mal. 4:2). Further, let us do better than the schismatics and refuse to divide the church of Christ. Let us rather eat the Passover of the Lord in one house, the catholic church.! For the Lord of the Passover, who gave us His holy laws, guided us to the practice of righteousness and promised the Feast
(Exod. 12:46).
ALWAYS REMEMBER GOD'S KIND ACTS
The Passover truly is a turning from wickedness to godliness and a conversion from death to life. Israel was most eager to escape from Egypt and move on to Jerusalem, and today we are eager to escape death and move on to life. At the same time, Israel escaped the rule of Pharaoh and came under the leadership of Moses. Similarly, we rise up from the rule of the devil to the reign of the Savior.
Further, just as in those days there was a representation of their deliverance celebrated every year as a witness, we have one too. Remembering our salvation, we fast, meditating on death, so that we may be able to live. And we keep watch through the night, not in the way that mourners do, but as waiting for the Lord to "return from the wedding" (cf. Luke
12:36). We are even prepared to compete with each other in announcing His triumph, His victory over death.
O dear friends, how I wish that at all times we remembered and lived so as never to forget the gracious acts of God—and so as never to cease living holy lives! As the apostle Paul exhorts,
"Remember Jesus Christ, that He rose from the dead" (2 Tim.
2:8). He did not say there was a limited season of remembrance.
No, he wanted the Lord in our thoughts at all times. Still, because of general laziness, we put it off from day to day. Well, let's begin now. After all, that is why a particular time of 1In Athanasius' day, there was no Roman Catholic Church — and no Greek
Orthodox, no American Lutheran Church, no Southern Baptist Church. All was the catholic (universal) church. May it be so again!
LETTER V
remembrance is established: to remind the saints of the reward of their calling and to reprove and exhort the careless.
Therefore, let us apply ourselves to righteous living between now and the Feast day, repenting of our neglect to do what we should. For none of us is free from defilement
— even those who have lived on the earth for just one hour, as faithful Job tells us (Job 14:4, Septuagint). But "stretching forth to those things which are to come" (Phil. 3:13), let us pray that we will not eat the Passover unworthily and expose ourselves to danger.
For the Passover is heavenly food for those who keep the Feast with pure hearts. But to those who observe it profanely and contemptuously, it brings harm and loss. The Scriptures warn,
"Whoever eats and drinks unworthily is guilty of the death of the Lord" (1 Cor. 11:27).
Let us, then, not just go through the motions of the Feast, but rather prepare to approach the divine Lamb, to eat heavenly food. Let us cleanse our hands and purify our bodies.
Let us keep our minds free from deceit, and let us not give ourselves up to intemperateness and the indulgence of the desires of the body. Rather, let us wholeheartedly occupy ourselves with our Lord and with holy doctrine. Then, purified and ready, we will be able to partake of the Word— Christ the Son of God (2 Peter 1:4).
THE DATES OF EASTER
We begin the holy pre-Easter fast on Monday, April 9, and end it on Saturday, April 14, for April 15 is Easter Sunday, the day of resurrection. Then, to that great Feast day, we add the seven weeks until Pentecost Sunday. That whole holy period we will celebrate with prayers, giving to our neighbors, love toward one another, and above all, a peaceable attitude. Then we shall indeed be heirs of the kingdom of heaven, through our Lord
Jesus Christ, through whom to the Father be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
All the brothers and sisters who are with me greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
'e x abbot ee din kit igh ae penn dt am se a a : ane eat eR ty ei TE | pyisaat oe 4 te ot netrrg a ae nae ste " — ao ote con eu Da
THE SIXTH LETTER
A.D. 334
GLORIFY GOD WITH YOUR BODY
INTRODUCTION TO
THE SIXTH LETTER
According to the ancient chronicle, Athanasius visited the "lower country" this year. Meanwhile, his enemies had gotten together what seemed to be a solid set of charges (all false), and had him summoned to a council to be held at Caesarea under Eusebius. "No," he replied, "I'm not going there to be judged by people who are biased against me." Thus, the bishop was still home to send this year's letter.
Athanasius again touches on praise and thanksgiving; he never loses that theme. But he also dwells at some length on what the death of Christ means to us. In all the activities of the season, we must not forget that "the Lord was sacrificed that by His blood He might abolish death." He points out that Israel, having refused Him, has grief instead of gladness in its attempt to celebrate the Passover.
He also builds a strong illustration from the example of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, pointing out that if God had allowed that sacrifice to be completed, the Jews would have applied all the prophecies about the Savior to Isaac. That would not do, of course, for it is only He who is both God and man who could, by His stripes, heal us all.
Thus, the letter builds to its climax: Let us keep the festival in purity and joy, for the church in heaven keeps it with us.
Athanasius gives us the examples of Moses, David, and Daniel, as well as the exhortation of Paul.
We modern people have an aversion to making long preparations of ourselves for any worship of God. We hope (although we know better) that a brief silent prayer puts us in a receptive