Written by: Catechist Branislav Ilić
In these Paschal days when everything breathes with the joy of the resurrection and when we repeat the words every day: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and to all who are in the tombs, granting life,” our being is deeply shaken by the news that the soul of the boy Jovan Knežević, a pure angel who hastened to join the heavenly angelic choirs to praise the Creator in heaven, has rushed into the arms of the Lord.
Rivers of tears flow from our eyes. We cry, but not like those who have no hope. And as I write these lines, tears and a trembling of being interrupt the flow of my thoughts. Before my eyes are verses from the Holy Scripture that testify to Christ’s weeping. “Jesus wept” (John 11:35), it is written in one place; and in another: “And when he drew near, he saw the city, and wept over it” (Luke 19:41). In both cases He wept for the people. In both cases His weeping is unusual. While the people wept for the dead Lazarus, Christ wept not because of the death of Lazarus (for He came to resurrect him), but because of the tyranny of death, which oppressed all those present.
Before our eyes is the image of the newly deceased child of God, Jovan. This reality of death opens our eyes wide and in it we see the whole abyss into which we fall and all the nothingness that dying brings. Love for our newly deceased boy Jovan compels us to seek a cure for death. True and sincere love for another appears when we want him not to die, but to live forever. God the Father has loved us with this love through our Lord Jesus Christ. Sincere love for others is what gives birth to faith in God, what motivates our prayer to Him, and gratitude and hope that we will be heard.
Our tears and trembling from the depths of our being are interrupted by the words: Christ is risen! In these wonderful words of Easter greeting, which for centuries have heralded the saving joy of the victory of life over death, lies the flame of our faith, the strength of our love, the foundation of our hope, the cornerstone of the Church, the focus of the New Testament message to the world, the unfading light of enlightenment and the source of inspiration, the core of Christian life and our entire future. The holy and God-bearing Bishop Nikolai of Ohrid, Žiča and Lelić, in his theological thought, penetrates the meaning of the Easter greeting in the following way, testifying that this greeting truly dispels sadness: “Christ is risen – it means life is stronger than death. Christ is risen – it means good is stronger than evil. Christ is risen – it means all the hopes of Christians are justified. Christ is risen – it means all the difficulties of life are resolved” (Thoughts on Good and Evil).
I watch how the face of the newly deceased child of God, Jovan, shines with some miraculous beauty on the bier. His beautiful and peaceful face seems to already herald the resurrection. The beauty of Jovan’s face and its indescribable radiance seem to tell us: Do not weep! So, while we weep, Jovan heralds the resurrection before us. This good news of the resurrection is Christ who tells us that every Cross can become Light, and every trauma a miracle. While our being experiences a shock, Jovan’s gentle face sends peace to our souls. While each of us, according to human logic, tries to find an answer to the tragedy of the sudden repose of a pure child, Jovan sends us comfort from the arms of God.
Before our eyes we see the face of an angel. John is his (anglicized) name! That name signifies the mercy of God, but it also reminds us of the great forerunner of the Lord, at whose holy right hand the newly deceased John grew up. The child of God, John, with the beauty of his face, presents the love that was proclaimed by the beloved disciple of the Lord – the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. At John’s head stands an icon of Saint John Chrysostom, who tells us that the purity and beauty of children are the most brilliant testimony of eternal love that is imbued with the power of the Resurrection. Looking at the image of the infant John, we hear the whisper of the greatest of church poets – the Venerable John of Damascus, who confirms us in the resurrection faith, because the Risen Christ “translates us from death to life and from earth to heaven” (the first song of the Easter canon). In the beauty of John’s image we see the radiance of his pure soul, as his namesake – the Venerable John of the Ladder points out, who tells us in his famous Ladder: “When a person is completely imbued with the love of God, the radiance of his soul is reflected outwardly, on his body, as in a mirror.” The radiance of John’s image is the most wonderful proof of the truth of the Saviour’s words: “Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). As the funeral words are pronounced over John’s bier, the shining figure of this angel speaks the loudest and tells us that while the earth weeps, the heavens rejoice, because God’s meadow is adorned with the most beautiful flower that has ascended from earth to heaven.
Our dear John, wonderful child of God, happy is the Kingdom of Heaven for you! Pray for us to persevere on the path of a pure and blameless life, so that our souls may shine with the same beauty with which your face shines before our eyes. Christ is risen!