Yesterday a number of us gathered at the Merced Cemetery to announce to the departed that Christ is Risen! The celebration of Radonitsa is celebrated the second Tuesday after Pascha – I’m not sure why that day – we celebrated it yesterday. The custom comes from the Kiev far caves when during the Paschal Matins in 1463 Saint Dionysius, a hermit in the caves, went around and was censing the relics of the God-pleasers buried in the Kiev Caves. When the monk cried: “Holy Fathers and brethren, today is the great day! “Christ is Risen!” their reply resounded like thunder: and the God-pleasers yelled back “Indeed, He is Risen!” In the modern world this is too fantastic! But the modern world has very little belief. Many call themselves Christian and by doing so would automatically believe in the Resurrection, the Saints, and miracles. But many do not and many, many more have no idea what they believe. The post Christian world is a very powerful force in non-belief. We as Orthodox Christians are called to live a much different life than the post-Christian world lives. We are to live in the most wonderful event the Cosmos has ever witnessed! It was the event that turned 11 cowards into the most prolific preachers of the Gospel the world has ever seen. The “cowards” turned the world upside down! We cannot be lazy and dismissive of our faith. The world needs our witness so it can once again live in the light of what Christ intended – for us to be completely human. The live a life of prayer, fasting and feasting, participation in the sacraments, the reading of Scripture, a complete reorientation of our lives! The Church gives us this opportunity each year and eventually through our lives the world will see the true power of Christianity.  Because of the Resurrection, the physical world rejoices by showing us myrrh streaming icons, myrrh coming from the bones of the Saints and even flooding their coffins in the Church. The incorrupt relics of the Saints. In the world of man, sinners having their life transformed and Saints showing forth every generation! And, like the God-pleasers in the Kiev Caves we may even witness to the world from our own graves! Christ is Risen!