Sunday of Thomas
By Professor John Fountoulis
By Professor John Fountoulis
The celebration of Pascha continues throughout the entire week that follows it, the Renewal Week, the new week. All of this is regarded as one paschal day, during which “we celebrate this life-giving Resurrection of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ,” according to the Synaxarion. And the week is concluded with the eighth day, the New Sunday, otherwise called the Sunday of Thomas or Antipascha.
This is the type of the eighth day of the age to come, “for it is appointed as an image of that endless day, of the one in the age to come, which will be both first and one, not interrupted by night,” according to the Synaxarion.
However, the Sunday of Thomas is not an image of the age to come simply and only because it is the eighth day from Pascha. It is also because it is the day of Christ’s presence in the midst of the circle of the eleven disciples, of the confirmation of the fact of the Resurrection, of the removal of every doubt, of personal communion and the touching of the Risen One. And precisely this presence and this touching are a type of the eternal presence of Christ in the age to come in the midst of His Church. Then nothing will hinder the longed-for vision of God, of Christ, and personal communion with Him. Then the barriers of unbelief will fall, and together with Thomas the people of God will confess the saving confession: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).
From the hymnography of the feast we select the Doxastikon of Vespers in the plagal second tone. It refers to the entrance of Christ through closed doors on Pascha Sunday into the upper room of Zion. Thomas was absent and expressed disbelief regarding the fact of the Resurrection. In order to be convinced, he wanted to see the Lord with his own eyes: to see the side from which flowed the blood and the water, the type of Baptism; to see the wound by which the great wound — man — was healed; to see that the Risen One is not a spirit, a phantom, but a man with flesh and bones. And this Risen Lord, who trampled down death and assured Thomas of the truth of His Resurrection, is glorified by the poet of the hymn:
“The doors being shut, You came to the disciples, O Christ. Then Thomas, by divine dispensation, was not found with them. For he said: ‘I will not believe unless I also see the Master; unless I see the side from which came forth the blood, the water, the baptism; unless I see the wound from which the great wound, man, was healed; unless I see that He is not as a spirit, but flesh and bones.’ You who trampled death and assured Thomas, O Lord, glory to You.”
At the end we present the ninth ode of the Canon of the day, a poem by John of Damascus. The irmos glorifies the Theotokos, the Mother of the Risen One. The three troparia refer to Christ’s appearance to the disciples, to the touching by Thomas, and to the confirmation of the divine Resurrection. They are among the most beautiful troparia of the New Sunday:
“You, the radiant lamp
and Mother of God,
the most glorious glory
and higher than all creation,
we magnify in hymns.”
“Your radiant day
and most brilliant, O Christ,
the all-illumining grace
in which, in beauty, to Your disciples
You appeared, we magnify.”
“You, whose side
was touched by an earthly hand
and was not consumed
by the fire of the immaterial divine essence,
we magnify in hymns.”
“You, as God,
risen from the tomb, O Christ,
not seen with the eyes,
but believed with the longing of the heart,
we magnify in hymns.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.