Our Exodus Our Passover — We have been released not from physical but from spiritual bondage. We have been freed not from earthly labor but from worldly defilement. Our flight has not been from Egyptian taskmasters, nor from a godless and savage tyrant who is nonetheless a human being like ourselves, but from wicked and unclean demons who urge us to sin and from their commander, who is Satan himself.
We have passed through the sea of this present life with its pleasures and idle distractions. We have eaten spiritual manna, the bread from heaven which gives life to the world. We have drunk water from the rock, for we have found our delight in the spiritual streams flowing from Christ. By the grace of holy baptism we have crossed the Jordan and entered the land promised to the saints and worthy of them, the land the Savior himself spoke of when He said: “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the land.”
Therefore, in honor of a a new happening, a new hymn should be sung by the Lord’s kingdom, that is, by those subject to Him and governed by Him. A hymn should be sung, worthy praise should be given, not only in the land of the Jews but from one end of the earth to the other; in other words, everywhere in the world. Of old, God was known in Judaea and His name was great only in Israel, but now that we have been called by Christ to the knowledge of the truth and His glory fills all heaven and earth, fulfilling the prophecy of Psalmist: “The whole earth shall be full of his glory.
Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church
Rich indeed! Thanks, Bill.
May all of my Orthodox brothers and sisters enjoy the blessings of Our Lord’s resurrection!
Christos voskrese!