From Fr. Angelo
Through the witness of the Apostles (i.e. Scripture) we are assured not only of God’s infinite power in conquering death, but also His endless mercy and perfect love. The Father’s willingness to offer His only begotten Son and Christ’s obedience to His Father’s Will assure us of His infinite mercy and concern for His creation. This is proof that we as Christians do not worship a transcendent God separate from His creation. God’s condescension as Man brought Him directly into Man’s history as a real and personal encounter, both during His life and after His resurrection. (Mark 16:9)
But it is not only belief in Christ’s resurrection which is critical to the Christian faith, but Christ’s bodily resurrection which distinguishes us from other faiths. Many religions have professed resurrection after death: Dionysos for the Ancient Greeks and Assur (Osiris) for the Egyptians. However, in each of these religions is the Platonic ideas that a) the body is an unnecessary prison holding our spiritual self captive and b) that the importance of death is the release of the soul from its bodily prison. In none of these religions do we find the fully developed reality that, through Christ’s death and bodily resurrection, death has been conquered. And it is this total and complete victory over death and the power of Hades that we celebrate every Pascha when we joyously and loudly proclaim…