{"id":15687,"date":"2023-04-13T21:38:27","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T11:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rocor.org.au\/?p=15687"},"modified":"2023-04-13T22:40:24","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T12:40:24","slug":"15687","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rocor.org.au\/?p=15687","title":{"rendered":"Paschal Epistle of His Grace, George Bishop of Sydney, Australia & New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Paschal Epistle<\/strong><\/p>\n

of His Grace, George<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bishop of Sydney, Australia & New Zealand<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beloved in the Lord, Clergy, and Flock\u00a0of the Australia and New Zealand Diocese<\/p>\n

Christ is Risen!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I greet you, the faithful of our diocese, with love and joy, on this Feast of Feasts, the day of our Lord\u2019s Resurrection, the day of His victory over death, death which had kept all of mankind in bondage for millennia, ever since the disobedience of our ancestors Adam and Eve and their expulsion from Paradise. Through His Resurrection Christ renewed and transformed all of creation and opened the path to the Heavenly Kingdom through believing in Him.<\/p>\n

This belief in His Resurrection and victory over death, and the resurrection of mankind at the end of the world, has been the foundation of the Christian faith since the time of the Apostles. We hear the words of St. Paul: \u201cBut if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain\u2026 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins”<\/em>. (I Cor. 15: 13-14; 16-17)<\/p>\n

This faith and hope in the Risen Christ and the resurrection of the dead gave the Holy Apostles the spiritual power and strength to preach the Gospel unto the ends of the earth, enduring hardships, tortures, and even death for the sake of the Gospel. It enabled the Orthodox Faith to spread and grow throughout the centuries and gave spiritual power to the innumerable martyrs and ascetics who struggled and died for the Faith, as they lived in expectation of the life of the Kingdom to come, not expecting an earthly king or kingdom. It is what gives Christians of all times the strength to overcome whatever trials God deems us worthy of enduring, remembering the words of our Saviour: \u201cIn the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.<\/em>\u201d (John16: 33)<\/p>\n

In these days of great joy, as we celebrate the salvific Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, I sincerely greet all of you. May we all abide in peace and love for one another as we await the life of the Kingdom to come!<\/p>\n

Christ is Risen!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

With love in the Risen Christ,<\/p>\n

+George<\/p>\n

Bishop of Sydney, Australia & New Zealand<\/p>\n

Pascha 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paschal Epistle of His Grace, George Bishop of Sydney, Australia & New Zealand Beloved in the Lord, Clergy, and Flock\u00a0of the Australia and New Zealand Diocese Christ is Risen!Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[138,180],"class_list":["entry","author-protodak","has-more-link","post-15687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-diocesan-news","category-english","tag-bishop-george","tag-paschal-epistle"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocor.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocor.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocor.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocor.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocor.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15687"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rocor.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15691,"href":"https:\/\/rocor.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15687\/revisions\/15691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocor.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocor.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocor.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}