April
4, 2010
Paschal
Epistle of the First Hierarch of ROCOR, His Eminence Metropolitan
Hilarion
Now
are all things filled with light: heaven and earth, and the nether
regions…
Let all creation celebrate the arising of Christ,
in
Whom we are established.
(Paschal Canon, Ode III)
Dear
archpastors, pastors, monastics,
and all the faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad!
CHRIST
IS RISEN!
By
the mercy of God we have reached the end of the period of the Great
Fast, when we strove to purify our souls and thoughts by fasting and
prayer, preparing ourselves for the great and triumphant feast of the
Pascha of the Lord, the radiant Resurrection of Christ, the feast
which the Holy Church calls the "Feast of feasts and Triumph of
triumphs." For Pascha is not only the commemoration of the most
noteworthy event in the history of the world. It is the essence and
meaning of our present and future life.
Christ
is risen! In this lies the meaning of the entire Orthodox confession
of faith. "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain,"
says the holy Apostle Paul (I Cor. 15:17). And the apostle does not
use this word by chance, inasmuch as it is precisely in the light of
the Resurrection of Christ that the fullness of man's salvation is
made accessible to him.
For
believers the greeting of Pascha, which is an image of the life to
come in the Kingdom of Heaven, has become possible exclusively thanks
to the fact that we all abide in the "One, Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church" (Symbol of Faith), which the Lord Himself has
founded and established as the earthly site of our salvation. For our
strengthening in the Faith and our edification, the words of the
Savior resound: "I will build My Church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it" (Mat. 16:18).
In
the Church we accept Holy Baptism; we find guidance in the Faith; we
have an opportunity to repent of our sins; we receive a blessing for
every good undertaking in our life; we partake of the Body and Blood
of Christ. It is with particular clarity during these paschal days
that the believing people contemplate the greatest hidden mystery of
the Eucharist, and to the believers' eyes the risen Christ's presence
in the Church is itself revealed. During these radiant paschal days,
in our earthly life we already have the possibility of acquiring in
truth the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit, singing with one
mouth: "Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship
the holy Lord Jesus…"
Let
us remember that the Church, which our Lord Jesus Christ founded on
earth, is a stranger to the spirit of division, schisms and worldly
enmity. To be part of this Church is a great joy, but at the same time
a great responsibility. And for this reason, abiding today in the joy
of the triumph of the Resurrection of Christ, let us drive far from
our life the spirit of divisions and schisms, the spirit of sinful
self-love, mindful that there is "one Lord, one faith, one
baptism" (Eph. 4:5).
During
these radiant days, let us remember the sick and the poor, the lonely
and the lost, those who in their futile pursuit of false ideals have
failed to find the meaning of true life – life in Christ and with
Christ. Let us be good laborers in the field of Christ, and "thy
Father, Who seeth in hidden, shall reward thee openly" (Mat.
6:4).
I
call upon all of you, my beloved: Preserve the purity of the holy
Christian Faith which has been given us by the holy Fathers; share the
body of this Faith with those near and far; in every place and in
every activity "see then that ye walk circumspectly, not as
fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are
evil" (Eph. 15:16).
Again
and again I congratulate all of you on the great and saving feast of
the Resurrection of Christ! May these holy days become for you days of
radiant spiritual joy. May the Lord grant unto you who believe in His
Resurrection strength of soul and body, wisdom, patience, consolation,
and love.
Again I greet you
with the words of the most joyous paschal greeting:
CHRIST
IS RISEN!
TRULY
HE IS RISEN!
+HILARION
Metropolitan
of Eastern America and New York,
First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad
New York
Pascha
2010
Media Office of the Eastern
American Diocese
