By Fr. George Dorbarakis
“Lord, though the tomb was sealed by the lawless, You came forth from the grave, just as You were born from the Theotokos; Your bodiless Angels did not know how You were incarnate; the soldiers guarding You did not perceive when You rose; for both were sealed from those who inquire; but the wonders have been revealed to those who worship the mystery in faith; grant us who hymn You gladness and great mercy” (Resurrectional Sticheron, plagal tone 1).
The Holy Hymnographer places in a straight line the mystery of the birth of the God-man Christ from the Most Holy Theotokos and the mystery of His going forth from the tomb in which He had been buried. No human being, nor even angels, knew the counsels of God in these events; both the supernatural Birth of the Lord and His Resurrection remained hidden from all creation, because there we have the action of the Triune God — we stand before the mystery of His almighty presence. And this is not only, of course, when the Lord came; even afterward, and for as long as the world and creation exist in the form we know, these saving events will remain completely closed to every rational being that thinks it can investigate the activity of God by its own powers — even for the angels! In other words, no created rational nature, however endowed it may be, can enter into the inner depths of the thought of God. These belong only to the three divine Persons, which means that God keeps “secrets” even from His holy angels. The Apostle Paul confesses this with complete awe at a certain point in his epistles: “Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counselor?”
But if indeed the counsels of God belong only to Him and the mystery of His activity is closed to all rational beings in their attempts to investigate, there is nevertheless “something” that opens and reveals the mystery; for it is that which “moves” the Lord and brings Him into harmony with the hearts of human beings. And this “something” is their faith in Him. Faith not as a simple acceptance of His existence — for even the demons have that — but faith as a movement of trust toward Him and His actions, even if they seem to overturn reason and the senses in their “normal” operation; the faith to which our Church always calls us with the words: “Let us commit ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.” “But the wonders have been revealed to those who worship the mystery in faith.” For this reason, there may be people with exceptionally high intelligence, with tremendous knowledge and abilities, and yet they understand nothing of the presence of God — they subject everything to their own capacities. And there are others, completely simple people, men and women and children, whose heart functions with the simplicity that God requires; that is, they have the trust of a child toward the authority of his father — and to these He reveals Himself and makes His mysteries known. “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes.” And a little further: “No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” This faith, says the Hymnographer, is what we believers have who hymn the mystery; therefore he asks and awaits that the Lord will grant what follows from this faith: joy and gladness and His great mercy.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
