He Is Risen: What It Means, Where It Comes From, and How to Say It in Latin and Greek
Three words. Present tense. The whole faith rests on them.
What does "He is risen" mean?
"He is risen" means Jesus Christ, who was crucified and buried, rose bodily from the dead on the third day. It is the announcement the angel made at the empty tomb on Easter morning: "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said" (Matthew 28:6). Mark and Luke record the same scene in almost the same words (Mark 16:6, Luke 24:6).
It is not a metaphor for hope or spring or a fresh start. It is a claim about a body and a tomb. Paul puts it plainly: if Christ is not risen, the faith is empty (1 Corinthians 15:14). Everything else Christians believe hangs on this one sentence being true.
Why "is risen" and not "has risen"?
People search this one a lot, and the answer is better than grammar. In older English, verbs of motion took "is" instead of "has": he is come, he is gone, he is risen. The King James Bible kept that form, and it stuck in the Church's mouth for four hundred years because it says something "has risen" cannot. "Has risen" describes a past event. "Is risen" describes a present state. He rose once, and He is risen now, today, still. That is why the Church never updated the line and why we would not either.
"He is risen indeed": the response
Say "He is risen" to a Christian on Easter morning and you will get an answer back: "He is risen indeed." Sometimes with an "Alleluia" on the end. This is the Paschal greeting, and it is one of the oldest things Christians still do together. It comes straight out of Luke 24:34, where the disciples in Jerusalem greet the two travelers back from Emmaus with the news: "The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon."
One person announces it. The rest confirm it. That call and response is the shape of the whole faith: a witness says what he saw, and the Church answers that it is true.
How to say "He is risen" in Latin
The Latin greeting is Christus resurrexit! and the reply is Resurrexit vere! (Christ is risen! He is truly risen!). In the Latin Bible the angel's line at the tomb reads "non est hic, surrexit enim sicut dixit" (Matthew 28:6), and the disciples' line in Luke 24:34 is "surrexit Dominus vere" (the Lord is risen indeed). Both verbs, surrexit and resurrexit, come from the root that gives us "resurrection."
Christus resurrexit! Resurrexit vere!
Christ is risen! He is truly risen!
How to say "He is risen" in Greek
In Greek, the language the Gospels were written in, the greeting is Christos anesti! (Χριστὸς ἀνέστη) and the reply is Alithos anesti! (Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη), "Truly He is risen." You will hear it in every Orthodox church on Pascha and in Greek homes for the forty days after. Luke 24:34 in the original Greek is "ontos egerthe ho Kyrios," the Lord is truly risen.
Christos anesti! Alithos anesti!
Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!
Why it belongs on a shirt
Most Christian clothing says something about you: your church, your walk, your favorite verse. "He is risen" says something about Him. It is the one line that is not a preference or a mood. It is either the most important fact in history or it is nothing, and wearing it means you have decided which. That is the kind of line we build pieces around.
We date the whole brand to the same event. Our 33 AD caps mark the year of the crucifixion and resurrection, and this line is the other half of that date. 33 AD is when. He is risen is what.
When is Easter 2027?
Easter Sunday 2027 falls on March 28, with Holy Week starting on Palm Sunday, March 21. Eastern Orthodox Pascha is the same weekend in 2027, which does not happen every year. If you are going to say the words out loud to someone, that is the morning to do it.
"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."Matthew 28:6