Paschal Homily — Saint Seraphim Sobolev (+1950)

 

“O Pascha great and most holy, O Christ... grant that we may partake of Thee more clearly in the unwaning day of Thy Kingdom.” These are the words of the Paschal hymn which we so often hear together, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, during the days of the Paschal services.

It is salutary for us to know in what sense our Lord Jesus Christ is called Pascha. This name of Christ becomes fully understandable if we recall the institution of the Pascha [i.e. Passover] in the Old Testament, at the deliverance of the people of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. Before the tenth plague of Egypt, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel... let each one take a lamb... and it shall be kept by you until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole multitude of the congregation of the children of Israel shall slaughter it toward evening. And they shall take of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel in the houses in which they shall eat it. And I will pass through the land of Egypt on this night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from man to beast... And the blood shall be for you as a sign upon the houses where you are; and I will see the blood and will shelter you, and there shall not be among you a plague to destroy you... And this day shall be for you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; as an everlasting ordinance you shall keep it as a feast” (Ex. 12:1, 3, 6–7, 12–14).

As we see, the feast of Pascha was established in remembrance of the salvation of Old Testament Israel by God, through the blood of the Paschal lamb, from the deadly plague. But the Pascha of the Old Testament was a foreshadowing of the Pascha of the New Testament. Here God delivers us from death not by the blood of a lamb, but by the Blood of His Only-Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. By His death and Resurrection the Lord destroyed death and granted us eternal life; therefore it is said in the Paschal troparion: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.” Although death still operates in the world, its power has already been trampled down, and at the general resurrection it will be abolished definitively and forever. Then the words of the Apostle Paul will be fully fulfilled: “O death, where is thy sting? O hades, where is thy victory?” (1 Cor. 15:55; cf. Hos. 13:14).

However, the Pascha of the New Testament is for us deliverance not only from bodily death, but also from spiritual death, that is, from the dominion of sin. This deliverance is likewise given to us through the Blood and death of the Paschal Lamb of the New Testament, and we receive it in the Mysteries of the Church, when we receive within ourselves the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit. With the help of this Grace, we are not only freed from the bondage of sin, but we also acquire the ability steadfastly to keep the saving commandments, to attain holiness, to become children of God by grace, and heirs of the heavenly Kingdom. This is the sense in which our Lord and Savior is called the most holy Pascha.

Let us now turn our attention, my beloved children in Christ, to the next words of this present Paschal hymn: “grant that we may partake of Thee more clearly in the unwaning day of Thy Kingdom.”

Let us try to understand what our communion with Christ means. In order rightly to understand these words of the Paschal hymn, we must set them alongside the Church hymn of Great Saturday: “Let all mortal flesh keep silence... for the King of kings and Lord of lords cometh to be slain, and to give Himself as food to the faithful.” As we see, here it is a question of our communion with Christ Himself: He is sacrificed and sheds His blood in order to become our food. And how else can this be so, except through the communion of His Body and Blood in the greatest mystery of the Divine Eucharist?

The same must be said of the words of the Paschal hymn: “grant that we may partake of Thee more clearly in the unwaning day of Thy Kingdom.” We can partake of Christ through participation in His Body and Blood in the Eucharistic mystery. Thus, in the words of this Paschal hymn, the Holy Church prays that the Lord may vouchsafe us to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ also in the life to come, in the heavenly and endless Kingdom.

This understanding is also confirmed for us by the prayer of Saint Basil the Great, which is read at the end of his Divine Liturgy, before the communion of the Holy Gifts: “We have partaken of Thy inexhaustible delight; do Thou vouchsafe that we all may be counted worthy of it also in the age to come.”

It is noteworthy that the word “have partaken” shows why the Holy Church, both in the Paschal hymn and in this prayer of Saint Basil, asks God to vouchsafe us to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ also in the Kingdom of heaven. Holy Communion is our true delight, which the saints of God experienced. And this is understandable: nothing unites us so closely and intimately with Christ as this great Mystery. And because Christ is the all-blessed God, through inward Eucharistic communion with Him we receive within ourselves His blessedness, all His divine and heavenly joy, which will be manifested fully to us in the Kingdom of heaven.

This is the meaning of the Paschal hymn: “O Pascha great and most holy, O Christ... grant that we may partake of Thee more clearly in the unwaning day of Thy Kingdom.”

What, then, is the saving conclusion for us from all that has been said?

If Christ, our Pascha, by His Blood has redeemed us from death and granted us eternal, immortal life, then let us take care that this life may become for us blessed. Therefore let us strive, by the faithful keeping of the commandments, to long with all our heart for the Kingdom of heaven, setting in it the highest and final goal of all our labors, remembering the words of the Lord: “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33), as well as the words of the Apostle Paul: “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things on the earth” (Col. 3:2).

If we live in this way, the Lord will vouchsafe us His heavenly Kingdom, where we shall partake of the Body and Blood of Christ unto eternal paradisal blessedness. May the Lord grant this to us, for the sake of His death on the Cross and His glorious Resurrection. Amen.

 

Translated from the Greek edition: https://krufo-sxoleio.blogspot.com/2026/04/1950.html