Elder Teofil Paraian: Pascha Opens the Gates of Heaven to Us
In Heaven, it will be just like on the day of Pascha, and there is joy on the day of Pascha; there is joy in Heaven.
Our Lord Jesus Christ says that many will come from the East and the West and sit at the table with Abraham and Isaac in the Kingdom of God. There are several parables in the Holy Gospel where the Kingdom of God is compared to a meal or feast—a wedding feast. We are told that all who respond to the invitation and have a wedding garment are allowed at the feast. However, the Kingdom of God doesn’t start with the world to come, with death, but the Kingdom of God starts with the life we live now.
We ask for the Kingdom of God in the prayer “Our Father” when we say: “Thy Kingdom come” - and the Kingdom of God comes. Pascha, in particular, is the image of the Kingdom of God because Pascha has opened the gates of Heaven to us. We know that our holy services are arranged in such a way that we can pray and learn by participating in them. We learn for ourselves and we teach others. In the Divine Liturgy for Pascha, we hear these words (Paschal Stichera):
A sacred Pascha today has been shown to us:
a Pascha new and holy,
a Pascha immaculate, a great Pascha;
a Pascha of the faithful;
a Pascha that has opened the gates of Heaven to us;
a Pascha that sanctifies all the faithful.
We should remember all these words if we can, but we should at least remember that Pascha has opened the gates of Heaven to us. In Heaven, it will be just like on the day of Pascha, and there is joy on the day of Pascha; there is joy in Heaven. In Heaven, in the world to come, the one beyond our earthly world, there is something similar to what we experience on the saving Pascha, the purifying Pascha, the eternal Pascha, the Pascha that delivers us from sadness. There is something that we experience on the day of the Lord’s Pascha.
(Elder Teofil Părăian, Inspired thoughts, Antim Press, 1997, pp. 120-121)
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