Paschal Epistle of Metropolitan HILARION, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
I greet you, fellow archpastors, and dear in Christ fathers, brothers, and sisters, with the luminous, universal, and eternal triumph of Holy Pascha. Along with you, I cry out with all my heart: Truly Christ is Risen!
How much bright joy these words contain! They destroy all sorrows, disappointments, hardships, and privations, while bestowing consolation and blessings.
Christ is Risen! If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, says the Apostle Paul; our hope in Christ would be to no purpose. But Christ is risen, thereby demonstrating that He is truly God, that the doctrine preached by Him is true, and that our faith is true. He promised His Apostles that He would suffer, die, and rise again on the third day – and His word was fulfilled. He arose in our human flesh, which means, according to His veritable promise, that we too will be resurrected at the time determined by Him. He is “the first-born from the dead,” as He is called in the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great that is served on Sundays during Great Lent. And we who believe in Him will also arise and be with Him.Continue Reading
