Journey Back to Eden.pdf - St Mark Coptic Orthodox Church Chicago

A TIME OF CONSECRATION 163gree at all are sometimes regarded as elitist, boastful, fundamentalist,or negative. It is refreshing to be in a place where no such complexagendas obtain. Here, fasting and mortifications of the bodyare taken matter-of-factly. They are joyful, sacrificial gifts that areoffered to God in the company of one another, building a communityout of the commonality of shared works and acts of faith.A Feast with a FutureAPRIL 19, EASTER SUNDAYThe Easter Liturgy concluded this morning—the Vigil, thatis—at 3:00 A.M., and there was great feasting thereafter. I spoke toAbuna Elia during the feasting and he said that “by the celebrationof Easter, the Church does not so much return in history to thethird day after the burial of Jesus, to the glorious moment when hearose. It doesn’t just return to the empty tomb with the apostles orthe disciples or Mary of Magdala. It does, indeed, do these things,but it does these things in memory.“On Easter Sunday,” he said, “the Church is somehow transportedto the future, when Christ will come again. Easter, for theChurch, is a promissory feast of one day fully sharing union withChrist in a risen body. It’s a celebration of the future when theChurch will be gathered around the Lamb in the new Jerusalemwith the heavenly assembly all around us, singing and praisingGod. We believe that Christ will come again,” he stated. “We believein the second coming of Christ but, liturgically, we are alreadyhastening that day; liturgically, we are already summoninghim. We are given a voice to call him forth, to bring him back byour worship. The celebration of the Mass makes Christ present tous Eucharistically. The Eucharistic coming of Christ,” he concluded,“is of one fabric, one cloth, with the eschatological comingof Christ on the last day.”Maybe it’s all the fasting, all of the liturgical exercises, but I’minclined to hear the words of Abuna Elia with ready acceptance andwithout any hesitation. Perhaps that is part of the benefit of aChurch that practices its liturgical and ascetical life as one life. It is,therefore, able to express its spiritual and theological outlook withpure zeal and great depth.