To the archpastors, pastors, monastics,
and all faithful children
of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Christ is Risen!
With these ever-living words, I extend my greetings to all of you, God-loving archpastors and pastors, devout monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters, on our greatest Christian feast of the Most Glorious Resurrection of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Resurrection of Christ is a triumph of the victory of life over death, light over darkness, and good over evil. By His Most Bright Resurrection, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ accomplished His blessed feat of the salvation of mankind. Man, created by God and adorned with the Divine image, sinned against God in Paradise. Unwilling to repent, man turned away from life in Paradise and started to live on earth, which was devastated by sin, in afflictions, illnesses, and fruitless works. And then man realized what he had deprived himself of, but it was already too late. All his life, Adam remembered the lost Paradise, cried bitterly, and said, “O Paradise, my Paradise, my wondrous Paradise.”
But the Creator had mercy on His creation. Divine love descends from Heaven to man, embittered and distorted by sin. God takes upon Himself the image of the fallen man, and heals, sanctifies, and raises him to Heaven. The saving feat of the redemption of man is completed by the Most Glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, a great triumph of the victory of life over death.
That sacred event is what we joyfully commemorate and prayerfully glorify today. Today, we rejoice together with the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women, to whom an Angel of God appeared at the Life-Giving Tomb and said, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, Which was crucified: He is risen; He is not here: behold the place where they laid Him. But go your way, tell His disciples… that He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you (Mk. 16:6–7).
Today, we are taken up in sacred wonder together with the Apostles Luke and Cleopas, to whom the Risen Christ appeared on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus and spoke with them; however, they knew Him only after the blessing of bread, but the Risen Christ became invisible. Then, taken up in sacred wonder and heartfelt love for the Risen Christ, their Divine Master and Lord, Luke and Cleopas said to one another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures? (Lk. 24:32).
Today, we join the Holy Apostles, to whom the Risen Christ appeared when the doors were shut, that is, without opening the doors, and said, Peace be unto you!, and then He showed them His hands, and feet, and side. The Apostles rejoiced in seeing the Lord. The Saviour told them again, Receive ye the Holy Spirit. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained (Jn. 20:19, 23).
On this great and holy day, we, together with the entire Orthodox world, bring humble gratitude and prayerful praise to God, our Creator and Maker, for the fact that He so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (Jn. 3:16).
Through the Most Glorious Resurrection, the lost Paradise is returned to mankind. The doors of Paradise are now closed not from within but from outside, that is, everybody, if he only wants, can take the sacred key from God and open the doors of Paradise for himself. That sacred key is on Golgotha, where our Saviour and Lord was crucified on the Cross, destroyed our sins, and freed us from the power of the devil, delivering us from his hand. On Golgotha, Divine Love overcame human malice, the mercy of God destroyed human sins, and the peace of God became higher than all enmity.
Christian, take up your cross, consisting of sorrows, illnesses, and other trials of life, and ascend Golgotha and be crucified on your cross; that is, become indifferent to earthly sinful passions, and turn to God with rational love. Crucified love is that sacred key with which you, in due time, will open the doors of Paradise for yourself, where there are no afflictions, illnesses, or sorrow, but only joy, peace, and bliss.
Let us make haste, dear brothers and sisters, to the returned Paradise and remember that blessedness is neither in earthly pleasures or amusements nor in high offices. These only make promises but offer no blessedness itself. Blessedness is only in God and with God, and no matter who a man is or what he owns, he can find true blessedness only if he loves God and trusts Him in his heart. That is what Christ suffered and rose for: to gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad (Jn. 11:52) and lead them into the eternal blessedness of life in Paradise.
I again extend my greetings to all of you, dear brothers and sisters, on the Great Day of the Resurrection of Christ, the Pascha of the Lord. St. Gregory the Theologian says that the Pascha of the Lord is the Feast of feasts and Solemnity of solemnities, and that it is as far exalted above all earthly solemnities as the sun is above the stars. I wish everyone health, salvation, joy, and happiness. May our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ, Who has given us the great victory of life, protect all of you—especially our soldiers, who are fighting for our land and people at the cost of their own lives. May the Risen Christ pacify the hearts of those who are waging war against us and bless our land with peace, so that we will unite in Christ and joyfully sing the sacred hymn of the Resurrection of Christ, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!” (Paschal troparion). Amen.
Indeed Christ is Risen!
Humble
