| Bulgarian Patriarchate
BELOVED IN THE LORD CHILDREN OF OUR HOLY CHURCH,
The light of the Resurrection today brightly illuminates the whole Universe and the pure joy of the triumph of the risen from the tomb Life lifts us high above everything that is earthly – above every suffering, sorrow and hopelessness, as it abundantly fills our souls and hearts so that we can cry out in exultation:
CHRIST IS RISEN!
Life defeated His old enemy, the divine light dispersed the darkness and in front of us is only the empty tomb of our Lord, as a silent testimony of the impotence of the evil and death. We are also witnesses of this triumph оf Life, we, “who have not seen, and have believed” (John 20:29), and our testimony is true as it springs deep in our hearts. With the eyes of faith we can see and we know that each triumph of the evil and death in this world is only temporary and imaginary, as death does not have a share in life, and that is why it has been defeated by The One in Whom we all are going to live. Surmounted and disgraced, it is not frightening for us anymore, because it was “swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15:54), and from now on no one should be afraid of death, “for the Savior’s death has set us free“ (St. John Chrysostom, Paschal Homily).
After the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the dead became also our reason for eternal life, for which we prepare ourselves already here, in this life, which is endowed to us by the Creator. Because “just as sin ruled in death, grace was to rule through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”, and this is the gift of God – “eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 5:21; 6:23). “I came”, the Savior testified, “so that people may have life, and have it in abundance” (John10:10). And here is how His words come true and find their confirmation in His all-victorious Resurrection from the dead, which is the stake for and the start of the resurrection of every one of us – the believers in Him as the way, the truth and the life (cf. John 14:6).
We live and we are saved in the time between the Resurrection of Christ and the general resurrection of the dead. It is not for us to know “the times or seasons which the Father has set by his own authority” (Acts 1:7). The age of the New Testament is a time of love which is a perfect “fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:10) and is bequeathed to us by our Lord as a primary moral value, the fulfillment of which becomes fully possible already here, on earth, in the actions towards God and men. God Himself “is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him“ (1 John 4:16), because “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5). Out of love for the man God Himself became incarnated, lived among men and as a man suffered because of us, to defeat the enemy of our salvation, rising from the dead. That is why the way towards the resurrection for life is that of love, imitating the eternal and unaltered model bequeathed to us by Jesus Christ.
And that is why it is so difficult when even today we become witnesses of the lack of this love. When we see the hostility and hatred between people, the desire for supremacy and predominance over the other to continue obsessing the human mind, to darken God’s image in man and to drift us away from our Heavenly Father. It is difficult for us to accept this and we refuse to do it and again we testify for how gracious, patient and most merciful our Lord is, Who does not desire and does not seek “the death of the ungodly”, but desires „that the ungodly … turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11).
Our God, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who rose from the dead, is all-powerful and most gracious. He has the power to cover and clean every sin, to wipe every tear from our eyes and to transform every evil into good. God is the absolute good and the immeasurable kindness and mercy, and philanthropy. He “is light, and in him there is no darkness at all”, testifies the holy apostle and evangelist, and seer of mysteries John (1 John 1:5). The darkness rules only in this world, but with the Resurrection of Christ it is already defeated, because “the darkness is passing away and the true light already shines” (1 John 2:8). The dazzling light of the Resurrection transforms everything and everyone and illuminates our way towards the eternal life, no matter how much evil there is around us. After the dawn of the Resurrection, the evil is surmounted and condemned because its strongest weapon was destructed – death, through which it rules in the world (cf. Heb. 2:14).
May the joy which the Resurrection of our Savior brings to us be always with us and may this joy be complete! Let us live with the Resurrection and realize deep in our hearts the irreversible change which occurred in our world in the dawn of Pascha, when the darkness forever succumbed to the Light, which it “has not overcome” (John 1:5). The enemy of human salvation was defeated and disgraced. At the place of despair there came faith and hope and Life was established. Let us follow the Light illuminating our way towards the eternal life and the Kingdom of God and let us work diligently for our salvation. Let us not be indifferent observers of the evil and injustice that surround us, but let us be active co-workers of our Lord in the everyday fight for life – doers of good and peacemakers, worthy of the name of Christ.
Our power is in our faith, because it is the faith in the Son of God and Son of Man Who has risen from the dead – our Lord and Savior and our eternal Master Jesus Christ. It is Him Whom we confess, it is Him to Whom we trust our hopes for salvation and eternal life, it is Him Whom we only trust remembering that “there is no other Name under heaven that is given among mortals by which we should be saved” (Acts 4:12).
On the occasion of the Resurrection of Christ, we are fatherly greeting all faithful children of our Orthodox Church – those in our Motherland and those far away from it, and we are wishing them spiritual peace and most abundant Paschal joy!
May to all of us be the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has risen from the dead and the communion in the Holy Spirit!
CHRIST IS RISEN!
HEAD OF THE HOLY SYNOD
† NEOPHYTE
PATRIARCH OF BULGARIA AND
METROPOLITAN OF SOFIA
MEMBERS OF THE HOLY SYNOD:
† Metropolitan IOANIKIY of Sliven
† Metropolitan YOSIF of USA, Canada and Australia
† Metropolitan GRIGORIY of Veliko Turnovo
† Metropolitan IGNATIY of Pleven
† Metropolitan GAVRIIL of Lovech
† Metropolitan NIKOLAY of Plovdiv
† Metropolitan ANTONIY of Western and Central Europe
† Metropolitan YOAN of Varna and Velicky Preslav
† Metropolitan SERAPHIM of Nevrokop
† Metropolitan NAUM of Rousse
† Metropolitan CYPRIAN of Stara Zagora
† Metropolitan GRIGORIY of Vratsa
† Metropolitan DANIIL of Vidin
† Metropolitan YAKOV of Dorostol
