Here is another example of the literary coinciding with spirituality:
Come, let us drink, not miraculous water drawn forth from a barren stone, but a new vintage from the fount of incorruption, springing from the tomb of Christ. In Him we are established.
Christ is risen from the dead.
Now all is filled with light: heaven and earth and the lower regions. Let all creation celebrate the rising of Christ. In Him we are established.
Christ is risen from the dead.
Yesterday I was buried with Thee, O Christ. Today I arise with Thee in Thy resurrection. Yesterday I was crucified with Thee. Glorify me with Thee, O Savior, in Thy kingdom.
(From the Matins of Pascha – what Orthodox Christians call Easter)
The reference in the first stanza is to Moses striking a large stone in the wilderness so the thirsty Children of Israel could drink (Numbers 20:8). The hymn compares that stone to the risen Christ who quenches thirst in this wilderness of life. Use of the word vintage suggests a thirst quenching of an entirely different dimension and turns the image into a metaphor for communion.
How nicely this spirituality is expressed literarily.
