… Anastasia … I don’t believe I’ve ever personally met an Anastasia, perhaps because they seem to be mostly Russian, Greek – & famous! To name a few … Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, known for her lively personality & execution with her family in 1918; Anastasia Mskina, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Anastasia Rodionova – all former Russian / Russian born professional tennis players; Anastasia Volochkova – Russian ballerina. There are also plenty of Anastasias to be found among actresses, models, & in synchronised swimming – all out of my league!
The name Anastasia comes from the Greek, “anastasis”, meaning “resurrection, a raising or rising up, an uprising into a state of higher advancement & blessedness, to cause to stand up or rise, to raise up into existence.” With such a variety of meanings, the word “anastasis” (or a form of it) can be found regularly through the NT, wherever resurrection is mentioned. The Sadducees were a party of Jews who claimed there was no “anastasis” (Mt.22:23). Simeon prophesied of the infant Jesus, “Behold, this child is set for the fall & anastasis of many in Israel…” (Lk.2:34). There are numerous other references, but one that comes most readily to mind is found in Jn.11:25 where it is recorded that Jesus said to Martha, “I am the anastasis & the life. The one believing in me, even if they should die, will live, & everyone living & believing in me shall never die.”
Anastasis has been a sticking point for Christians from the earliest days of the Church, beginning with if there even is an anastasis … “If Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no anastasis of the dead?” (1 Cor. 15:12). Others are confused as to what form the resurrected body will take, to which Paul responds, “It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Cor.15:35-44). Neither is this an issue just for the distant past. False & misleading, but widely circulated allegations about a former Churches of Christ State Minister’s beliefs about resurrection, contributed to him not being re-elected by the Conference in 2016.
Then just when I think I’ve got anastasis all sorted out I get to Revelation 20 & discover there’s a first & second death & a first & second anastasis! Along with a blessing of course (because Revelation is a book with a blessing): “Blessed & holy is the one who shares in the first anastasis; over such the second death has no power…” (Rev.20:6). But however we understand anastasis, it remains a fundamental hope of Christian believers in some form or other – for some it is bodily; for others it is more spiritual. For all, it is essentially about being with God in an eternal life beyond our earthly existence. In that I rest, & in that I trust.
Grace & peace Grant.
