Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Last night, this morning, as well as now at Vespers, we repeatedly heard the narrative, as recorded by the four Evangelists, of the crucifixion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Holy and Glorious Apostles and Evangelists Matthew and Mark describe the death of Christ in exactly the same way. Matthew writes that Christ “cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost” (Matthew 27: 50), while Mark says that “Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost” (Mark 15: 37). The Holy Apostle Luke adds to his account the words said by the Saviour in a loud voice: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” ( Luke 23: 46). St. John the Theologian, the beloved disciple of the Saviour and an eyewitness of the death of Christ, recounts the following: “Jesus … said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19: 30). Although each Evangelist narrates the final minute of the earthly life of Jesus Christ differently, these records do not in any way contradict each other; therefore, today let’s not touch on that, but instead, consider what exactly was finished with the death of Jesus Christ.

Of course, we all know well that the salvation of the human race was completed with Christ’s death and that for each of us personally the possibility of inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven was granted. Having died on the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ definitively finished that which He began in the cave in Bethlehem. Each of us lives his or her own life, chooses this or that path, and, in such a manner, builds for himself a unique existence, but in the end, each of us, the rich and poor, the righteous and sinner, those who lived in the distant past and those who live in our own time, taste the bitterness of death. Perhaps death is the one thing that binds all of us together. With death Christ completely clothes Himself in the nature of man and is consubstantial not only with God the Father through His divine nature, but now becomes consubstantial with us also through our mortal nature. Since we are so firmly joined to the Son of God, we become the sons and daughters of God the Father. Today we are definitively adopted by God and become His lawful heirs. That which earlier belonged exclusively to the Son of God today becomes available to us. Today, with the death of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, we, the children of God the Father through Grace, have lawfully inherited the Kingdom of God.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, do we wish to be the children of God? Are we ready to inherit that which is offered to us through the Crucifixion of our Lord? If the answer is yes, let us take up our own cross – our worries, ailments, sorrows, and difficulties – and let’s follow Christ, carrying our cross throughout the whole course of our life.

priest Alexis