“The Resurrection” Icon, 1552

Spring is late coming, still coming this year, as his Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. This year the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christian churches celebrated Easter on the same day.

Tonight on 60 Minutes there was a rare TV visit to Orthodox monks of Mount Athos. Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. It is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. It is referred to as the “Holy Mountain”. Monks there still celebrate the original rituals and life of the early Christian monasteries. It is a fascinating site of living liturgy and workshop. Check out the video at Mont Athos: The Holy Mountain.

It was a fitting show for Easter Sunday, a day of hope. One of the monks on the show said they live for death. Each day they look forward to their death by becoming closer to God.

I have mentioned on these posting how, a few months after the death of my son Peter, I felt like I was living in the shadow of death. I have become more accustomed to this feeling but unlike the monks cannot yet rejoice in it.

Good Friday we celebrated the death of Jesus and today we celebrate the Resurrection. But are not death and life two sides of the coin, one and the same? Life trumps death but death is needed for life.

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