Mikhail Nesterov, “The Resurrection Triptych” (1922)
Easter Sunday
Edmund Spenser, author of The Faerie Queene, deliberately spells archaically in his joyous celebration of the Easter resurrection. All the familiar paradoxes appear in the poem—death has died, captivity has been made captive—and it concludes with the confident assertion, “Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.” Therefore, “let us love, deare Love, lyke as we ought.”
MOST glorious Lord of Lyfe! that, on this day,
Didst make Thy triumph over death and sin;
And, having harrowd hell, didst bring away
Captivity thence captive, us to win:
This joyous day, deare Lord, with joy begin;
And grant that we, for whom thou diddest dye,
Being with Thy deare blood clene washt from sin,
May live for ever in felicity!
And that Thy love we weighing worthily,
May likewise love Thee for the same againe;
And for Thy sake, that all lyke deare didst buy,
With love may one another entertayne!
So let us love, deare Love, lyke as we ought,
–Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.
Happy Easter!