“Today every creature rejoices and is triumphant, for Christ is risen, and hell is captured.” (9th song of the Canon of Easter)

Beloved, in the Risen Christ the Savior, venerable fathers, dear brothers and sisters! Spiritually triumphant on this great and glorious feast of the Resurrection of Christ the Savior of the world, mentally contemplating His rising from the tomb, I address to you the life-affirming exclamation full of strength, irresistible truth and joy: Christ is Risen! Both in the distant days of the apostolic times and in our days, these words of the Easter greeting express the unshakable foundation of the Christian faith. The brevity of this creed contains the meaning of earthly time as well as it expresses the essence of eternal life, which was revealed to the human race in the Three-day Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Resurrection of Christ is a central moment in the history of mankind. And therefore it is a celebration of great joy. Our Christian faith is based on the Resurrection of Christ, the essence of which is expressed in the brief words of the Paschal liturgy: “Ye are baptized in Christ, clothed in Christ” (Gal.3:27). We are clothed in the risen Christ, and therefore in immortality. Christianity proclaimed faith in immortality from the very beginning. Only the hope of the Resurrection gave the strength of the First Christian Church to withstand the period of fiery trials and shine to the world as a beacon of hope and salvation for many millions of people. The good news of Easter, which changed the entire subsequent course of world history, encourages us to moral transformation and spiritual renewal, which are so necessary for modern society. We all gathered in the holy temple to share with each other the joy of saving Easter and it makes our joy complete. In these bright days of the Easter celebration, we are called upon to share our joy with our relatives and friends, to show them active love and mercy. May Easter of Christ comes to our homes, illuminating them with Divine light, banishing sorrows, reminding us of the triumph of life over death, of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that if our Lord has risen, then everyone who believes in Him will rise and live with Him forever. Because Christ Himself said, “He who believes in Me, even if he dies, he will live” (John 11:25). Beloved brothers and sisters! Keep the joy of the Resurrection of Christ in all the days of your life! Bring it to people and generously share its fruits with them! After all, Christ has risen for all, and we should remember that only He has the right to choose His inheritance from among people. May this Day of the Resurrection of Christ be a day of joy for us. Beloved pastors in Christ, monks and nuns, young people, dear brothers and sisters! I sincerely congratulate you on this great and bright Easter Holiday! May the eternal and unchangeable joy of Easter remain in each of us, despite the grieves and sorrows, everyday difficulties and adversities, which, unfortunately, are companions in the earthly life of every person. May the risen Christ, the Life–Giver, strengthen each of you in faith and love, give His all-powerful help, give strength to the old and sick, be a joy and comfort to widows and orphans, send peace and harmony to families, purity and chastity to youth and children. May the Bright Resurrection of Christ always be for us a feast of joy, a celebration of the victory of life over death. And may it help us patiently, uncomplainingly endure all the hardships of earthly life in the hope that the time will come when we will hear the longed-for voice of our Savior: “Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Amen. Christ is Risen! HE IS TRULY RISEN!

BY THE GRACE OF GOD, PAVEL, METROPOLITAN OF MANILA AND HANOI

Easter of Christ 2024

Most Reverend Archpastors, Venerable Fathers, beloved brothers and sisters! CHRIST IS RISEN! It is with joy that I extend this ancient salutation to you and cordially greet all of you on the great Feast of the Pascha of the Lord! Every year, believers wait in awe for this festive day to come, preparing for it with utmost diligence and pinning their special hopes on it. To all of us, Pascha is a new starting point, the beginning of a new period in our life, in which, as we hope, there will be more joy and light, more goodness and love. It is a kind of a lighthouse that enlightens our path towards salvation, leading to the outstretched arms of our Heavenly Father. Why is it that this feast is so dear to us? Why is it that the words “Christ is Risen!” are said by the faithful with such inspiration? The answer may be the promise of the Lord Himself that after His Resurrection no one will take our joy from us (Jn 16:22). Joy is an essential prerequisite to a truly happy life, for without joy we can neither work nor create fruitfully; without joy our prayers and participation in the sacraments of the Church may become a formality; without joy it is hard to be a kind and delicate person and it is even harder to help others and to perform the works of mercy as God commanded us. There is nothing fleeting or unsteady in the joy that Christ grants unto us in His Resurrection. It is the joy that reaches unto eternity. Our Lord rose from the tomb – and gave us hope that such resurrection awaits every one of us and that, therefore, death has no dominion over us because it becomes not the end of existence, but the beginning of eternal life with God. On these radiant days I wish all of you, my dears, to remain in good health and with cheered spirit, in joy and peace, that each of you, in word and in deed, in solitude and among others, in church and at home, with firm trust in God’s mercy bear this witness: CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED!

+SERGIY, Metropolitan of Singapore and South-East Asia, Patriarchal Exarch of South-East Asia

Pascha of Christ 2024, Singapore

Beloved in the Lord Your Graces the archpastors, all-honourable presbyters and deacons, God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters! On today’s “feast of feasts and solemnity of solemnities”, which, as Saint Gregory the Theologian proclaims, “is far exalted above all others – not only those which are merely human and are of the earth, but even those which are of Christ himself, and are celebrated in his honour – as the sun is above the stars” (Oration 45 on Holy Pascha), it is with great joy that I address you with the greeting that is both ancient and eternally new, which all are long accustomed to and yet which forever compels our hearts to soar aloft: CHRIST IS RISEN! These two life-affirming words contain so much power that the countenances of people shine with spiritual joy from them and the world that surrounds us is literally transfigured: “Now all things are filled with light: heaven, and earth, and the places under the earth. The seen and unseen world celebrates, for Christ who is eternal joy has risen” (Paschal Canon).The Resurrection of the Saviour is not merely a historical event of which we know from Scripture. It is the cornerstone of our faith and is, as Saint Philaret of Moscow states, “that which is eternally new, the fountain of our thoughts, of our amazement, of thanksgiving and hope” (Homily for the day of Pascha). Through his incarnation, passion and rising from the dead on the third day the Saviour renews human nature, delivers us from the power of sin and death, opens up to us the gates of the kingdom of heaven and shows us the way to oneness with the Maker. It is indeed in Christ that “God was reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5.19) so that we may become sons by adoption and are justified, that we may find life everlasting, for “there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved other than Jesus Christ, whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 4.10-12).The Saviour’s rising from the tomb transforms death into immortality, sadness into joy, condemnation into hope. On the cross and in the resurrection the God of infinite goodness and perfect love is revealed to us.The awareness of this all-conquering love of God arouses within us a sense of thanksgiving towards the Maker and grants to us the strength to overcome the times when our hearts endure the greatest affliction and arduous circumstances, it elevates us above the vanity of everyday life, it helps us to correct our former errors and casts down the despondency which hinders us in living a full life and growing spiritually. People often succumb to the deceptive notion that evil reigns and triumphs, while good passes by unnoticed and is weak. Our mind hesitates in believing in the power of redemption which Christ has accomplished when it sees around us the death of those closest to us, when it hears of the eternal torments for sinners in the Gospel and contemplates “the world which lies under the power of the evil one” (1 John 5.19). Yet for thousands of years the Church of God has borne convincing witness that the Saviour has overcome sin and “annihilated death and despoiled Hades” (Saint John Chrysostom. Paschal Catechetical Homily). Christ has cast aside the inevitability of death and the universality of evil, and we look upon their defeat through the eyes of faith from the age to come, from the lofty heights of Pascha. The Lord’s rising from the tomb reminds us not only of the most important event of the past, but also testifies to the coming resurrection of all, “for since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died” (1 Thess. 4.14). It is, then, vital that we observe God’s commandments, accomplish deeds of love and mercy, participate in the sacramental life of the Church in order to partake in Christ’s victory and remain faithful to him to the end, recalling the words of Scripture: “For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised” (Heb. 10.36). For this reason, as the apostle exhorts us, dear brothers and sisters: “Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward” (Heb. 10.35). And may the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus be an unchanging reminder of these steadfast divine promises which grant to us hope and strength in even the most difficult of circumstances. May this solemnity inspire us all to live in faith and love, knowing that neither death, nor suffering, nor evil can ever overcome us if we are with Christ and in Christ, who has vanquished sin, death and all falsehood. Let us, then, “keep the feast of the Lord’s Passover by living a life of purity and virtue and by accomplishing good deeds” (Saint Athanasius the Great. 10th Paschal Letter), so that in being transformed into a new person in Christ we may “serve a living and true God, and wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming” (1 Thess. 1.9-10). Amen.

+KIRILL

PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA

Pascha 2024