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Paschal Message of Metropolitan Anthony of Korsun and Western Europe, Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe

Beloved in the Lord Archpastors, all-honorable Fathers, God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters!

I congratulate you all on the great and joyful feast of the Holy Resurrection of Christ!

Rejoicing and triumphant, we again turn to each other with the words of Easter greeting - CHRIST IS RISEN!  – and we hear in response HE IS RISEN INDEED!

In the past days of the Great Lent and Passion Week, we reverently prepared ourselves for the encounter with the mystery of the Resurrection.  Together with the Lord, we walked the path of the last days of His life and looked with reverence at His redemptive feat.

Being faithful to the end to the will of His Heavenly Father, Christ ascended the Golgotha to give His life for the salvation of the world.  Nailed to the Cross, He was abandoned by everyone - by the crowd who had met Him a few days earlier with cries of "hosanna", by His closest disciples and, it seemed, by God Himself, suffering not only from physical pain, but also from complete loneliness.

However, the seemingly inevitable tragic outcome was followed by the Resurrection, the beginning of a new life which shone after death, and the feeling of inexorable hopelessness was now replaced by a firm belief that God provides for each person in the same way like a loving father takes care of his beloved child.

Thoughts about this fill our hearts with inexpressible gratitude, and therefore, offering the Bloodless Sacrifice to the Lord at the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, we invariably give thanks to God “for all the good things that have been done for us, whether known or unknown, whether manifest or hidden".

May the firm faith in the triumph of the Savior over sin and over death itself, the promise given by the Lord to be with the human race even until the end of time, be for all of us, dear Masters, Fathers, brothers and sisters, a strength and consolation in this difficult time.

On these festive days, let us earnestly pray to the Risen Christ that the Paschal joy be generously poured into the world, that love and mutual understanding between people reign in our native countries, that, united by one faith and one Baptism, we tirelessly proclaim in one mind

Christ is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!

+ ANTONY,

Metropolitan of Korsun and Western Europe, Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe