St John Chrysostom's Easter Sermon
Watch: A narration of the Paschal Homily.
The sermon every Orthodox church hears
Around the year 400, St John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, preached a short Easter sermon that the Church has never stopped reading. In many Orthodox churches it is read aloud at the Resurrection liturgy every year. It takes under three minutes, and this video is a narration of it.
What it says
The sermon is an invitation. Whoever has laboured from the first hour and whoever arrived at the eleventh are both welcomed to the feast. The one who fasted and the one who did not are told to come in; the table is full and the calf is fattened. Then it turns to the Resurrection itself: Hell was embittered when it met Christ, because it swallowed a body and met God. “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54). “O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” Christ is risen, and life reigns.
Why it gives hope
This is the sermon for anyone who feels they have been away from God, missed Lent, or has not taken their spiritual life seriously. Chrysostom's answer is that the Lord receives the last as He does the first, and judges the intention, not the hours. For the Coptic Church it fits the Fifty Days of Pentecost, the season of joy after Holy Week.
Key points
- Written by St John Chrysostom, around AD 400.
- Read in Orthodox churches every Easter.
- Welcomes those who come at the eleventh hour.
- Death has been swallowed up; Christ is risen.