Holy Pascha,
2002
BARTHOLOMEW
By
the mercy of God Archbishop of Constantinople
New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch:
unto the entire plentitude of the Church
Grace, Mercy and Peace from the Gloriously risen Saviour
Christ
Christ is Risen!
We welcome with this joyous salutation, beloved brethren
and sons and daughters in the Lord, the feast of the
Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We participate this
year once again in the universal celebration of the
Resurrection, through which and on account of, we experience
in our life the transcendence of death and all sorrow.
We bow before and thank our Lord Jesus Christ, Who rose
from the dead, because He renders worthy those of us who, in
the orthodox way, worship and honour Him to see the wondrous
deeds of God, to become recipients of the supernatural light
of His resurrection, which leads us to a new life, and to
feel this new life pulsating robustly in our hearts and
vanquishing the many and great sorrows of the present
life.
Standing without wavering upon the rock of faith in the
Lord's resurrection and our own, we sing joyfully along with
the hymnographer and praise the sacred and all-venerable
Pascha. The outward and festal Pascha, but also the inner
and mystical one, which is accomplished in the depths of our
hearts, instils in our spirit the life of the Risen Christ
and the unquenchable joy of the eternal life in Christ.
We rejoice in every way, enjoying in body and spirit the
gifts of Jesus Christ who loves us. And we wholeheartedly
wish that all our fellow human beings would become
participants of this joy and blissful life, especially those
who are downtrodden by various sorrows and tribulations and
those who do not know the joy of the Resurrection and the
love of the Risen Christ towards us all. Faith in the
Resurrection of Christ and participation in it deflect every
pain, offer hope, conquer the fear of death, and grant
optimism and joy.
We are not ignorant of human pain, injustice, harassment,
illness, poverty and deprivation. We do not live outside the
present sorrowful universal condition. We are crucified with
Christ and suffer with all our fellow human beings that are
treated unjustly. But we know that there is a healer of all
these, our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered and was
crucified for us, who also granted us victory over death
and, overcoming all sorrows, the expectation of ineffable
joy and the indisputable promise of eternal life.
The feast of the Resurrection of Christ is for us a
turning point of joy within the vast sea of the sorrows of
life. It is a point of recovery through hope and of
re-equipment through spiritual endurance and vigour, so that
we can face the complexities of contemporary life with
optimism. It is from this feast that we draw courage,
according to the word of the Lord, "be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world," because the Resurrection is the
greatest victory over the power of evil in the world, which
is very good inasmuch as it was God's goodness that created
it for us human beings. The Resurrection of Christ reminds
us that we have the possibility and the duty through His
grace to resist every fall into sin, every disappointment
and pessimism, and to look to Him and to His Church for
receiving Divine Grace and help in every difficult
circumstance of our life.
Be of good cheer, then, beloved sons and daughters in the
Lord, and make peace with one another, rejoicing in the
worldwide paschal celebration, because Christ's Resurrection
is also our resurrection, and Christ's victory over evil can
also be ours through His grace, and our persistence in the
struggle against every evil, pain and bereavement.
This is what we wholeheartedly wish for all of you, on
whom we invoke the grace, the peace and the strength of the
Risen Christ. And we call all of you to repeat at this
Pascha as well, the salutation of the victory of Christ over
every evil.
Christ is Risen!
Holy Pascha 2002
Your fervent supplicant before God
+ Bartholomew of Constantinople
Protocol No. 357
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