Today I would like us to look at a few words by our father among the saints, Cyril of Jerusalem, from his 18th lecture, given as a part of his catechetical program, delivered to those being received into the Church by holy baptism, delivered in the fourth century. And behind this passage that I’m going to read lies a question that it seems pertinent for every Christian to ask himself or herself, not just once or twice, and not simply in order to give the standard, the obvious, the expected answer, but to truly consider in terms of how this question is shaping the way we think and the way we live. And that question is this: Do you believe in the resurrection of Christ, in the resurrection of his body? That question in mind, let us hear the words of St. Cyril.

The root of all good works (he writes) is the hope of the resurrection. For the expectation of the recompense serves the soul to good works. For every laborer is ready to endure toils if he sees their reward in prospect. But when men weary themselves for naught, their heart soon sinks as well as their body. A soldier who expects a prize is ready for war, but no one is forward to die for a king who is indifferent for those who serves under him and bestows no honor upon their toil.

In like manner, every soul that believes in the resurrection is naturally careful of itself, but, disbelieving it, abandons itself to perdition. He who believes that his body shall remain to rise again is careful of this robe and defiles it not with fornication; but he who disbelieves in the resurrection gives himself over to such things and misuses his own body as though it were not his own.

My brothers and sisters, do we believe in the resurrection? From one perspective this question almost sounds offensive to us as Orthodox people. Of course we do! We are Christian. Everything about us is grounded in the resurrection. We celebrate holy Pascha; every Sunday is the day of resurrection. We see the empty cross atop our churches. Of course! Why do you even ask this?

And yet it is not enough simply to talk about the resurrection. It is not enough to proclaim it in certain manners here and there. The question that we all must answer is whether we really believe that resurrection defines our life, that we really believe that this life we are living here today is but a moment, but a small piece of a life that will carry on long after our death, that will carry on into eternity. If we really believe that this life, this fleeting moment, will find its fulfillment when our bodies rise up from the ground and we stand before God anew, do we really believe this? Because if we do, says St. Cyril, that belief will shape everything, not just what we confess when asked about our faith or our belief. It will infuse every thought and action of this life with a unique meaning, because everything that is done here and now is seen in the perspective of that resurrection.

My life as I consider it is far more vast than the mere 70, 80, 90, maybe a hundred years that I might have here. The Scripture says we might live to 120, but they were right then and they are right now that even in that length of years there is much toil, much suffering. And yet, how often do we shape our day-to-day choices, activities, plans not based on eternity, not based on the vision of my life that goes from now until the kingdom, but based on a picture of my life that goes from now until my death? While I may believe, I may say, perhaps, that there will be a resurrection, does this shape how I live, the choices I make in my life? Or is my life, in point of fact, defined by my considerations for this earthly span, and then simply tacked onto the end of it the hope that things may go on further?

St. Cyril says if we truly believe in the resurrection, this belief will shape how we act towards one another, towards God, towards our own bodies. How frivolous we are with our bodies, because we view them as something that will just pass away! I’ve only got it for a while. But the Christian confession is that this body will rise again. It will be ours for eternity. So, St. Cyril says, if we truly believe in this resurrection, we will be careful with what we are given. We will not defile it with licentious acts. We will not defile it with modern behaviors, despite what may be accepted in the society around it, around us. For we know that this body will be ours for eternity, a precious gift, and we will care for it as that eternal reality.

In the same way, if we truly believe in the resurrection, our concerns over our self-satisfaction, our lot in life, these things which seem so important to us here and now, will have a different appearance, because they will be seen as small steps toward an eternal life. It is only when we don’t truly believe in the resurrection, St. Cyril says, that we are willing to be flippant with the things of this life, with our own body, with our soul, with the things that God has given us. But when we do this, he says, we, to use his own words, “abandon ourselves to perdition.”

Let this not be our lot. Let us be Christians, not simply in word but in deed. Let the vision of the kingdom of God, the reality of the resurrection, be something that changes how we live, the very definition of who we are, that everything that we do is orientated toward that kingdom, and every action that we take, every choice that we make, is one grounded in a firm and unstinting belief in the resurrection unto eternal life.

We do not live this life for no reason, St. Cyril says, any more than a soldier just goes off into battle for its own sake. We go into this life because we have been promised a reward, and we are not talking here about some transaction—if you live according to A, B, and C, God will give you X, Y, and Z—we are talking about the reward of love that leads a creature into eternity. And God has shown us this eternity in his own resurrection, in the foretaste of heaven that we experience in our divine worship, in the testimony of the saints who have spoken what mysteries might be revealed of the things to come. We know what that reward of love shall be, and we hold that reward up before us, that we know why we fight, why we stand by the things we do, why we engage in the practices that we do. It is not for their own sake, but for the sake of attaining the heavenly kingdom.

Let us, then, be real Christian men and women. Let us live lives built on the resurrection, that we in every choice that we make, cherishing every gift that we have been given, may work towards the heavenly kingdom with peace and joy and love.

Through the prayers of our holy father among the saints, Cyril of Jerusalem, and of all the saints, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.