The Parousia
In the days and hours before His passion, Jesus spoke to His disciples about the Parousia, i.e., His second glorious coming. He invites us as well at the beginning of Great Week to approach the mystery and ponder its meaning and significance for our own life and the life of the world.
In the Church we recognize that eternal life has penetrated our finitude. However, we also know that the full realization and revelation of God’s kingdom, already begun developing secretly within the world, will occur only at the end of the age, at the Parousia. The Parousia is God’s climatic intervention in the history of the cosmos. It is the Last Day, when Christ will come again in all His glory to judge the living and the dead (Mt 16.27; 25.31). Then all things will be made new (Rev 21.5).
While we have only a partial knowledge of the things that pertain to the Last Day, some things are clear and certain.
The end times will appear suddenly and when we least expect them (1 Thes 5.2-3). The exact time of the Parousia is known only to God the Father (Mt 24.36; Acts 1.7). However, according to Jesus’ word, this dramatic and decisive event that will mark the sudden end of history, will be preceded by certain signs pointing to the imminent coming of the Bridegroom. It is clear from His words that the Second Coming will not be ushered in by some idyllic interlude, but with unprecedented cosmic calamities, tribulation and distress (Mt 24.1-51; Mk 13.1-37; Lk 21.7-36). The devastation and desolation of the last days has been prefigured mysteriously in the frightening and awesome events that accompanied the crucifixion (Mt 27.27-54).
Regardless of when the Last Day will come, it is always imminent, always spiritually close at hand in the life of every human being. The uncertainties in and the unpredictability of human life allows us to grasp, even vaguely, the imminence of the Parousia. For example, death, the ultimate indignity, abomination and enemy, stalks us from the moment we are born. To obtain the victory of Christ over corruption and death we must remain spiritually watchful; be steadfast in the faith; use our God-given talents wisely; and be constantly aware of the primacy of love in our relationships. The life we live in the flesh is filled with the potential and opportunity to gain heaven or to lose it.
The decisive battle with evil has been waged and won. However, the fullness of that victory will not be realized and manifested until the Parousia. Till then the awkward, senseless and futile efforts of the devil will go on seeking to rob people of their dignity and destiny. Therefore, we are obliged to keep the words of St. Peter the Apostle alive in our memory and operative in our lives. He wrote, “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares about you. Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith . . . The God of all grace who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, establish and strengthen you” (1 Pt 5.6-10).
The Church is always oriented towards the future, towards the age to come. Thus, the eschaton or Last Day which will usher in God’s kingdom in power and glory, forms our point of constant reference both as persons and as community. “The Church does not draw her identity from what she is but from what she will be … We must think of the eschaton as the beginning of the Church’s life, the arche (principle), that brings forth the Church, gives her identity, sustains and inspires her in her existence. The Church exists not because Christ died on the Cross but because He has risen from the dead, which means, because the kingdom has come. The Church reflects the future, the final stage of things, not an historical event of the past.” This eschatological vision is a fundamental characteristic of our faith. It fashions the consciousness of Orthodox Christians and inspires and guides the life and activity of the Church.
The Church is primarily a worshiping community constituted by the very presence of God’s embracing love. Established by the redeeming action of God, sustained and vivified by the Holy Spirit, the Church at prayer is always being constituted and actualized as the Body of Christ. Permeated by the joyous and overpowering presence of the risen Christ (Mt 28.20), the Church is called both to share in His risen, deified life and to yearn for and expect the coming fullness of the manifestation of His glory and power (2 Pt 3.12). The future age – God’s kingdom – is known and experienced by the faithful both as gift and as promise, i.e., as something given and at the same time as something anticipated.
Through worship in general and the sacraments in particular we experience a personal relationship with God, who infuses His life into us. We experience His uncreated energies touching, healing, restoring, purifying, illumining, sanctifying and glorifying both human life and the cosmos. We participate in the saving acts of Christ’s life, in order to be continuously renewed. We experience continually the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling and active within us, leading us to and bestowing upon us the resurrectional life.
Our preparation for the Kingdom has already begun with our baptism and chrismation. It is sustained and advanced through the Eucharist. The sacraments give us powers by which we draw near to Christ and to His kingdom. These powers are dynamic and are meant to be developed by us. Thus, our preparation for the kingdom is a movement that involves progress, both as a return as well as an advance into God. The progress begins with man’s return from estrangement to his own authenticity. Fundamentally, this means a return to Christ, the archetype and model of man. At the very same time this return is also a progress forward into God. “Return is simultaneously also progress forward and progress forward is return. It is a return of human nature to itself, and a progress forward into itself, but at the same time it is a return to and a progress forward into God and Christ, for no development of human nature is possible except in God and Christ … The new or future age develops by promoting the dissolution or transformation of the present age.”
The age to come will not grow out of some biological or historical evolutionary process, nor will it be simply the result of human achievement through a steady advancement of civilization. For sure, the new world is working itself out, but in the mystery of faith, hidden from the wise of this world (I Cor 1.19-21; 2.6-9). The kingdom, after all, is of God and not man. Nevertheless, “the messianic era initiated by the Incarnation can only be established with the collaboration of mankind. This collaboration is called synergy. We prepare for the Second Coming, the final triumph of justice and life over evil and death, by becoming united by faith to the crucified and risen Savior.”
Besides these shared themes, each of the three days of the Bridegroom has its own special commemoration that distinguishes it from the other two.
~Adapted from Alkiviadis Calivas, Great Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, “Great Lent, Holy Week & Pascha, Website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, http://lent.goarch.org/articles/lent_mon_tues_wed.asp.
