CHRIST IS RISEN!

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

“For behold, through the Cross joy has come to all the world.”

In the beginning, “God said let there be light: and there was light. He saw that the light was good and He divided the light from darkness” (Genesis 1:3-4). God has brought all things from nonbeing into being and from the darkness of chaos to the light of life.

And though today evening passes to morning and the day passes back to night to cycle through over entire millennia, it has been foretold that this movement, or journey, from darkness to light will ultimately lead to the unwaning Day of God’s Kingdom, of the never-ending Light and “Glory of the Only-Begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14), “radiant with the unapproachable light” (Ode 1, Paschal Canon).

Paschal Epistle of the Ruling Hierarch
of the Western American Diocese

Beloved Clergy, Monastics and Faithful!

CHRIST IS RISEN!

In the early hours of this Paschal morning we greet one another with the proclamation that neither death, nor time, nor the powers of darkness have ever been able to silence: Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen! The Apostle Paul declares with absolute certainty: "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain" (I Cor. 15:14) — but He is risen, and therefore our Faith is not in vain and nothing is without hope. As the Holy Hierarch Philaret of Moscow declared on this very feast: "Christ is risen! In saying this, what more can I say? All has been said!" (April 18, 1826).

Venerable Brother Archpastors, Venerable Fathers, Dear Brothers and Sisters scattered throughout the world, I greet you all with Christ's love with the Paschal kiss: “CHRIST IS RISEN!"

“I wish you all that is bright in these days," writes St Theophan the Recluse, "and in all the days to come. The Lord is always sweetness, and joy, and peace! Strive always to be with the Lord, and you will always celebrate the Bright Pascha."

“Your Resurrection, O Christ Savior, the angels proclaim in the heavens” – we sing on this night, with trepidation asking that the Lord grant us to glorify Him with a pure heart. Alas, the peoples of this age do not heed this call, struggling in a deadly battle for earthly goods, they do not heed the call of the Divine to arrange life on the foundations of Christ’s teachings and the Holy Gospel. The current conflicts, when people seek temporary goods through enmity, divisions, and cruelty, are distressing, but they shouldn’t frighten us today, nor should the conversations about various prophecies concerning the end of the world.

Paschal Message by His Holiness KIRILL, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’

to the Archpastors, Pastors, Deacons, Monks,
Nuns and All the Faithful Children
of the Russian Orthodox Church

Beloved in the Lord Your Graces the archpastors,
all-honourable presbyters and deacons,
God-loving monks and nuns,
dear brothers and sisters,

CHRIST IS RISEN!

In all its richness and diversity the human language knows no words more joyful and desired for the believing heart than this overwhelming testimony to the victory of life over death and good over evil.

“Christ is risen!” This good news encapsulates the cherished power of hope and the great expectation rooted in faith by which people have lived since the expulsion from Paradise. They have lived awaiting forgiveness, reconciliation and liberation. Yet the Lord has granted to us incomparably more, for in His love He has provided something better (Heb. 11.40).

The Son of God came into the world and became man, He shared with us all the burdens of our earthly existence and drank to the bottom the cup of suffering, the most bitter of which was the cup of death. A man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity (Is. 53.3), He took upon Himself our sins by voluntarily ascending the Cross.

Yet could death contain the Creator of life? Could the insatiable depths of Hades consume the One through Whose Word all things came into being (Jn. 1.3)? His glory shines upon the world and enlightens the very depths of the abyss; death is annihilated, night has vanished, and the gates of Sheol are broken; creatures lying in darkness from ancient times are clothed in light, Saint Ephraim the Syrian writes in his Hymn to the Light, inspiringly praising the Saviour’s victory over death.