Christ is Risen! We would like to share the joy that Christ’s Resurrection gives 😇. God’s blessing to all!
EASTER MESSAGE
To the UOC Episcopate in Canada, to the venerable clergy, to the diaconate in Christ, and to all the faithful children of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada.
“Look around you, Zion, for behold, your children have come to you like divine lights, from the east and the north, from the sea and the east, blessing Christ in you forever”
Song 8 of the Easter Canon
Honorable fathers, dear brothers and sisters!
Christ is Risen!
We are gathering again all over the world to congratulate each other on the bright celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. For many years now, we have been going through a special way of the cross, and perhaps it is not easy for us to talk about joy in a human way. However, Easter joy does not come from people, but from God! Today, the whole universe celebrates Christ’s victory, His overcoming of evil and death. “You captured hell and resurrected man with your resurrection of Christ.”
The Old Testament Passover commemorates a significant event when the Lord freed his chosen people from Egyptian slavery, and the deadly angel passed by every house whose doors were marked with the blood of the Passover lamb. Actually, the first meaning of the Hebrew word “Pesach”, which was the name of the holiday, indicates the image of God’s punishment, which “bypasses”, “bypasses”. So when we sing that Christ is our Passover, we glorify Him through whom we have the opportunity to escape the consequences of our sins, but if we firmly decide to leave the house of slavery to sin and passions, if we repent and follow in the footsteps of His Gospel. Because he saved us with his blood!
“Know that it was not with perishable gold or silver that you were delivered from your vain life, which you received from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, the spotless and pure lamb, predicted before the foundation of the world and revealed, for your sake, in the last times “, we read in the First Epistle of the Apostle Peter 1: 18–20).
This is a word of salvation, but not everyone understands it. Talking about Jesus Christ, the Lamb on the cross, is as problematic in today’s circumstances as it was in the time of the early Christians. Although the Gospel of Christ has been preached for almost two thousand years, it often happens that the world, even the one that considers itself Christian, continues to understand only the language of wealth, power, weapons and power.
However, at the same time, in every generation there are those who see God’s ways, those who know how to be God’s silent lambs in the history of their people, those who imitate God’s humility, meekness and the spirit of sacrifice, those who realize that crosses and patience not only pass, but that without them there is no Resurrection.
Such are the thousands of sons and daughters of the Ukrainian people who sacrifice their lives for the freedom and independence of Ukraine. In the Risen Jesus, our innocent Lamb, the Easter value of their pure sacrifice, which leads us out of the house of slavery, is revealed to us – the meaning of the patience of all Ukraine at the dawn of the new millennium is revealed to us.
Despite all the trials and uncertainties, the Easter season is for us a time of indescribable joy and hope. On the bright holiday of the Resurrection of Christ, the Church celebrates the sacrament of the combination of opposites: burial and resurrection, death and life, crucifixion and glory, sorrow and joy. This is the great Easter mystery, that the Son of God himself becomes one of us, dies like us, so that we can be resurrected like him!
Christ walks his way of the cross for us and for our good, giving us His bright Resurrection and new life in God.
Therefore, the cross and the resurrection are inseparable. They concern not only Christ, but all people and each of us in particular. The event that took place in the life of Jesus Christ – His death and resurrection – absorbed the entire history of mankind, all suffering, both past and future, and transforms them into new life, new joy.
The Risen Christ enters the heart of each of us, He experiences all our suffering and humiliation, and we are at the same time condemned and crucified with Him — together with Him we rise from the grave and are resurrected. “Yesterday I was buried with you, Christ, and today I rise with you resurrected.”
Today, the Lord comforts us, turns our sadness into joy, as it happened with the myrrh-bearing women. They went to the Lord’s tomb crying, and returned full of true joy. They walked in the darkness of hopelessness, but received the light of the Risen One and announced to the apostles and the whole world that Christ had truly risen. Let this “miracle, miracle of all miracles” change us, and through us, our society and country.
With his resurrection, Christ gives us strength to fight against sin and resurrects our souls. Belief in the resurrection of the dead inspires us to serve God and the Church, our Ukrainian people and the Motherland in the name of love for Christ the Savior and man.
At this moment in history, when the world is being tested, we, as faithful children of Christ, must show generosity, love, and mutual support to our neighbors. May our hearts be open to those who need help and may our prayer be a powerful tool to establish peace and justice in the world.
Easter reminds us that a flower rises through the thorn, and light breaks through the darkness. Just like that oh may our faith lead us to great heights where we will be a light of hope and a living consciousness of peace.
On these festive Easter days, we sincerely congratulate all of you, our God-loving pastors and faithful of the UOC in Canada, in Ukraine, and in the diaspora, on the Feast of the Resurrection of Christ.
We especially congratulate the glorious defenders of Ukraine, who do not spare their lives for the sake of love for their neighbor and for their Motherland. Let’s not forget all those who sincerely love Ukraine and help her, who are doing everything possible for a just peace, for the earliest possible end to the war and victory over visible and invisible enemies.
Easter days are also a time to pay tribute to all those who are not among the living, who left us their love and life experience by passing away into eternity. Let’s visit their graves and remember them with the prayer: “Christ is Risen”.
We wish you that the light of Christ’s Resurrection envelops each of us. May the gracious fire of the Holy Sepulchre illuminate the path of every family and family, and may the Risen Christ strengthen our mental and physical strength and grant us gracious help in good deeds. Let no one and nothing overshadow our spiritual joy.
May the grace of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Truly Christ is Risen!
With the Archbishop’s blessing
- Hilarion, Archbishop of Winnipeg and Metropolitan of Canada
- Andrew, Bishop of Toronto and the Eastern Diocese