Dr Augustine Sokolovski
Christ is risen! Each day of Bright Week is devoted to what theology calls the Paschal reading of the Acts of the Lord Jesus. What is ordinarily read as the story of His earthly life, with its blessings, miracles, and healings, is perceived, during the period from Easter to Pentecost, and especially during Bright Week, as a long account of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, followed by the testimonies that ensue.
The Holy Scriptures are a model of analog discourse about God. They are written in simple language and addressed to an uninitiated audience, with few exceptions. Thus, during the period from Easter to Pentecost, the Gospel of John is the one most commonly read. To put it in modern terms, of all four Gospels, the Gospel of John is the one most suited for Easter reading. It is literally interwoven with theological meanings; in it, Jesus appears clothed in the authority of divine transcendence.
On Bright Monday, during the Liturgy, a passage from the first chapter of John, verses 18–28, is read; it begins with the words: “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known” (John 3:22). This statement is, in essence, one of the earliest symbols of the faith of the apostolic community.
The following ten verses describe John the Baptist’s testimony that he is neither the Christ, nor the Messiah, nor a prophet in the usual sense of the word, but the Forerunner, the Precursor, the One who points to the One who possesses the true Kingdom, Power and Glory.. This is the second pericope, that is, the verses immediately following the prologue to the Gospel of John, which in the Orthodox Church is read on the night of the Resurrection as a sign of the text’s special importance.
“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said. He is the one who comes after me, yet he has gone before me. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals” (John 3:23, 27). “He has gone before me.” Thus, the messianic time overturns the usual chronology. Jesus becomes the Forerunner of his Forerunner, in order to give him, through the Holy Spirit, the strength for authentic witness. In light of the Easter Monday reading, John’s testimony is bathed in the victorious light of the Risen One.