Anastasis

Anastasis means a standing-up-again — resurrection. It is the ground of the whole Christian faith: if Christ be not raised, Paul says, our faith is vain. But he is risen, the firstfruits of a great harvest, and his anastasis guarantees the resurrection of all who belong to him.

Jesus did not merely promise resurrection; he claimed to be it: I am the anastasis, and the life. This turns death from a wall into a doorway. For the believer, anastasis means the grave is not the end — this mortal will put on immortality, and death itself is swallowed up in victory. The empty tomb is the pledge of our own.