Archpastoral Letter For Pascha 2021
Saturday, May 1, 2021
May 2, 2021
Protocol No. 12/2021
PASCHA ARCHPASTORAL LETTER
Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!
Christos Voskrese! Voistinnu Voskrese!
Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!
To the Very Reverend Protopresbyters, Very Reverend and Reverend Fathers, and Faithful Laity (young and old) of our God-Protected Diocese:
Today I greet you with great love and joy in the Name of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ following His glorious Resurrection. On Great and Holy Pascha, we behold the triumph of Christ, as He rose from death to life, from darkness of the tomb into the Light. With the Resurrection of Christ, all Creation is filled with a new Light of life and joy. On this Feast of Feasts, this Holy Day of Holy Days, we all proclaim the only truth that matters, the Truth that Christ is Risen!
This year we have experienced a different Great Lent, Holy Week and Pascha from that which we did last year with the arrival of the Coronavirus known as Covid-19. This invisible entity had attacked us in a vicious way. Millions of people have been exposed to the virus showing no symptoms. Millions of humans have been sickened world-wide. Millions have died. People within our own Diocese have been exposed and over 60 have even succumbed to this dreaded affliction. May their memories be eternal!
As I wrote to you last year “I do not know what the future holds in the weeks and months to come. I do know however, that the Church will not be overcome by a virus. I know that this is not the end, and I know that we will in fact worship together again as one big family in our Churches. All sickness, darkness and even death has been overcome by the Resurrected Christ.” “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it,” (John 1:5).
This year however as conditions improved we began to return in greater numbers and worshipped together in our local Churches during Great Lent, Holy Week and Pascha. Thanks be to God. As true believers and followers of Jesus Christ we can shout out joyfully that “CHRIST IS RISEN!”, “CHRISTOS VOSKRESE!”, “CHRISTOS ANESTI!” And we can respond “INDEED HE IS RISEN!”, “VOISTINNU VOSKRESE!”, “ALITHOS ANESTI!”
Let us sing the beautiful triumphant hymn of the Resurrection with great strength and joy every day, multiple times a day, for 40 days.
“Christ is Risen, from the dead, trampling down death by death, and to those in the tombs, bestowing life.”
Personal Greetings:
On this Bright and Holy Feast, I extend my prayerful best wishes to you, the Clergy and Laity, Friends and Supporters of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese. May you truly experience the love, joy, and excitement of the early followers of Christ when they first saw Him after His Resurrection. Christ is Risen!
Working in the Risen Lord’s Vineyard with much love,
+His Eminence, Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa