« The Paschal Message of Bishop Elisey of Sourozh to the Clergy and Faithful of Diocese of Sourozh of the Russian Orthodox Church »
18-04-2009 Beloved in the Lord, reverend Fathers and pious people,
dear brothers and sisters!
I offer you my heartfelt congratulations on the Feast of Easter, the Pascha of the Lord, with a feeling of other-worldly joy, the joy that refreshes our hearts with the mystical triumph of Life.
CHRIST IS RISEN!
He is risen indeed! This is the response of our hearts, filled with the Love that radiates abundantly from God, our Creator, Who raised His Son Jesus Christ, ‘so that we might live through Him’ (1 Jn 14:1).
Before His death on the Cross, Our Lord Jesus Christ exhorted his disciples and, through them, all of us: ‘Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me’ (Jn 14:1).
If we turn in repentance to God, we can overcome the sinful agitation of our minds, our feelings and our will, and we obtain thereby faith and the victory of good over evil, of life over death. This faith is given to us through the Resurrection of the crucified Christ.
Let us receive the Revelation of God in our hearts, as He addresses us in His Word, He Who is from all eternity, and we shall believe and rejoice in a life of purity and holiness!
May Pascha open to us the path to true happiness: the path from the state of ‘dying in our sins’ (Jn 8:24) to that of spiritual renewal through the power of the Risen Christ, the Word of God, the true Light, that enlightens and sanctifies everyone that comes into the world.
May faith in the Resurrection enable us to see even in our earthly life the dawn of the mystical and most bright day of the Kingdom of God!
I congratulate all of you with the great feast of the Bright Resurrection of Christ, both our dear compatriots living in Britain and those Orthodox British people who are being saved in the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church. I wish you again and again to find the joy of life in the love of Christ and peace with all our loved ones, near and far.
The blessing of the Risen Christ, the Giver of Life, be with all of you.
CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED!
+ ELISEY
BISHOP OF SOUROZH
The Pascha of Christ, 2009
London