Kontakion 1: Invincible Leader, Lord of heaven and earth, we, Your servants, bring grateful praise to You who today descended into hell and raised up all with Yourself, and celebrating our deliverance, we proclaim: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.
Some refrains from the Ikos: Christ is risen – and the gates of brass are shattered; Christ is risen – and the fortresses of hell are laid waste; Christ is risen – and all creation rejoices; Christ is risen – let us cry out with joy, saved from death; Christ is risen – and the world is saved from the flood of sin; Christ is risen – and we are freed from enemy bondage; Christ is risen – and the deception of the devil is destroyed; Christ is risen – and all have received incorruption and life; Christ is risen – and the dead have arisen; Christ is risen – and we are freed from condemnation and torment; Christ is risen – and life has shone forth from the tomb to the world; Christ is risen – and we have all been clothed in incorruption; Christ is risen – and the mortal shadow has turned into eternal life; Christ is risen – and the mortal realm can no longer hold humanity; Christ is risen – and paradise instead of hell is granted to us for life; Christ is risen – and the devil’s deception is exposed; Christ is risen – and we have become partakers of eternal joy; Christ is risen – and death is destroyed by victory; Christ is risen – and we, having escaped decay, have become children of the resurrection; Christ is risen – and His Body we receive as the Bread of Life; Christ is risen – and His Blood we consume as from the Fountain of Immortality; Christ is risen – and He has enlightened all with His resurrection; Christ is risen – and eternal light has shone for those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death. Christ is risen – and the spiritual eyes of those previously blind are opened; Christ is risen – and we are now delivered from all affliction; Christ is risen – and He has seated us at the right hand of the Father with Himself. Christ is risen – and has made us partakers of His eternal glory; Christ is Risen – and the KINGDOM OF GOD HAS COME; Christ is risen – and with Himself, He has raised all who call upon Him: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.
St. Symeon the New Theologian. (Works. Words. Word)
“…for those possessed by disbelief and passions, the grace of the Holy Spirit is inaccessible and invisible. But for those who demonstrate worthy repentance and begin to fulfill the commandments of Christ with faith, along with fear and trembling, it becomes revealed and perceptible, and it itself produces (acts within them) undoubtedly such judgment as must be, or rather, it becomes for them a day of divine judgment. He who is always illuminated and enlightened by this grace truly sees himself, – what he is, and in what pitiful state he exists, – sees most finely (best, in the finest details – V.A.) all his deeds, which were performed by the body and which occurred only in his soul. During this, he judges and condemns himself and by the divine fire, resulting from which, watered by the water of tears, is watered throughout the body, and little by little is baptized entirely, soul and body, by this divine fire and Spirit, becomes entirely pure, entirely – blameless, a son of light and day, and no longer a son of mortal man. Such will not be judged at the future judgment, since he was judged (earlier, before the judgment), nor will he be exposed by this light, because he was enlightened by it here earlier, and will not enter this fire to be burnt eternally, because he entered it here earlier and was judged, and will not think that only then did the Lord’s day appear, because he has long been a day bright and shining (glowing) from communion and conversation with God and has ceased to dwell in the world or with the world, but has completely become beyond it…
…Therefore, those who have become children of light and sons of the future day, and can always, as during the day, walk in a befitting manner, for them the day of the Lord will never come, because they are always with Him and in Him. For the day of the Lord will not appear for those who are already illuminated by divine light, but it will suddenly be revealed to those who dwell in the darkness of passions, live in the world in a worldly manner, and love the goods of this world; for them, it will appear suddenly, unexpectedly, and will seem to them as an unbearable fire…
… And say to yourself: if now, while I am still in this world, I do not see the light of divine grace, and dwell in darkness, then, certainly, after death, I must dwell in darkness; and inevitably, like a thief at night, the day of the Lord will come upon me, and then unexpectedly eternal destruction will embrace me. Indeed, this is true, my brethren, let no one deceive you with vain words…
… From this joy, I regarded not the sorrows and temptations that came upon me, not looking at the future, but at the present glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was then immediately manifested in me by the grace of the Holy Spirit. From the contemplation and communion of this glory, I regarded the deadliest pains and any other sorrow, more unbearable than anything that can happen to a person with unspeakable pains and torments, forgetting all the painful suffering of my body. From this same contemplation and communion of the glory of Christ, I began to perceive the burden of the commandments as light and the yoke of Christ as good. However, I had only great and unbearable grief about this – believe me – that I did not find a blessed reason to die for the love of Christ…