Category:Risen Christ (subject)

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The Risen Christ refers to an episode in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The episode is narrated only in the Gospel of Peter.

Overview

The actual moment of the resurrection of Jesus is not described in the earliest gospel narratives. The Gospel of Mark ends with the Empty Tomb. Matthew refers of the presence of Roman soldiers, sent to guard Jesus' tomb; they were unaware of the resurrection of Jesus, until the morning, when they saw the angel. In the Gospel of Peter the Roman soldiers become eyewitnesses of the actual moment of the resurrection during the night.

Risen Christ in ancient sources

Gospel of Peter

[35] But in the night in which the Lord's day dawned, when the soldiers were safeguarding it two by two in every watch, there was a loud voice in heaven; [36] and they saw that the heavens were opened and that two males who had much radiance had come down from there and come near the sepulcher. [37] But that stone which had been thrust against the door, having rolled by itself, went a distance off the side; and the sepulcher opened, and both the young men entered. [38] And so those soldiers, having seen, awakened the centurion and the elders (for they too were present, safeguarding). [39] And while they were relating what they had seen, again they see three males who have come out from they sepulcher, with the two supporting the other one, and a cross following them, [40] and the head of the two reaching unto heaven, but that of the one being led out by a hand by them going beyond the heavens. [41] And they were hearing a voice from the heavens saying, 'Have you made proclamation to the fallen-asleep?' [42] And an obeisance was heard from the cross, 'Yes.' [43] And so those people were seeking a common perspective to go off and make these things clear to Pilate; [44] and while they were still considering it through, there appear again the opened heavens and a certain man having come down and entered into the burial place. [45] Having seen these things, those around the centurion hastened at night before Pilate (having left the sepulcher which they were safeguarding) and described all the things that they indeed had seen, agonizing greatly and saying: 'Truly he was God's Son.' [46] In answer Pilate said: 'I am clean of the blood of the Son of God, but it was to you that this seemed [the thing to do].' [47] Then all, having come forward, were begging and exhorting him to command the centurion and the soldiers to say to no one what they had seen. [48] 'For,' they said, 'it is better for us to owe the debt of the greatest sin in the sight of God than to fall into the hands of the Jewish people and be stoned.' [49] And so Pilate ordered the centurion and the soldiers to say nothing. (trans. Raymond E. Brown)

Risen Christ, in Fiction

The actual moment of the Resurrection of Jesus was not a subject in Christian Art until the 14th century. The earliest representations of the Risen Christ bearing the victory flag described him in his Descent into Limbo or in his meeting with Mary Magdalene (see Noli me tangere). Gradually the scene took a life in its own focusing on Jesus rising from the sepulcher at night, generally surrounded by angels and bearing the victory flag. The Roman soldiers sometimes are asleep and unaware (following the Gospel of Matthew), sometimes are awake and terrified (following the Gospel of Peter). Sometimes the two traditions are harmonized showing some soldiers asleep and some awake.