“He is Risen!”

Χριστός ἀνέστη!

Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!

In Greek, the language of the New Testament — and in equivalent phrases in other languages influenced by Greek Orthodox usage — it is customary to greet one another on Easter Sunday with Khristos anesti!  To which the traditional response is Alithos anesti!

Christ is risen!

Truly he is risen!

This eight-minute video from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, titled “He is Risen,” may help you to share the story of Easter with family and friends:

https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/he-is-risen?lang=eng

I offer also an Easter reflection of my own from 2012 (written, by the way, just a week or so after the entirely unexpected death of my beloved only brother).  In it, I remember a striking experience from my mission in Switzerland but also offer a re-reading — in my judgment, a very important one — of the story of Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the Risen Lord at the tomb on that first Easter morning:

“The gospel truly brings joyful news”

In the light of my view of that encounter, I would have made a somewhat different version of the rather staid and even unemotional Church film to which I link above — a considerably more joyful and exuberant one.  I understand the solemnity of the doctrine of eternal life, and the formality of the language (inaccurate, in this case) of the King James Version of the Bible.  But the sheer, humanly unforeseen joy of Christ’s resurrection must be remembered.

Χριστός ἀνέστη!

Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!

Share the good news!

There is none greater.