Home page News
Paschal Message of His Holiness KIRILL Patriarch o…

Paschal Message of His Holiness KIRILL Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

PASCHAL MESSAGE

by

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia

to the Archpastors, Pastors, Deacons, Monastics

and all the Faithful Children of the

Russian Orthodox Church

 

Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ

(1 Cor 1:57)

 

Beloved in the Lord Your Graces the archpastors, all-honourable presbyters and deacons,

God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters!

 

On this great and radiant day I congratulate you from the depths of my heart on the Lord’s Passover and greet each of you with these ancient and holy words:

 

CHRIST IS RISEN!

 

It is in these words, with which people throughout the ages have greeted each other during the bright days of Pascha and by which they have testified to the world of the truth of an event occurring two thousand years ago, that there is to be found a great inner power. They contain the tidings of victory and a call to joy, the desire for peace, and the hope and comfort of every human person.

 

He who was born of the Most Pure Virgin Mary, he who suffered greatly and without blame, he who was crucified and died on a cross between two thieves, he was the first among people to rise from the dead. ‘He has been raised, as he said he would be’ (Mt 28:6). The tomb is empty. There remain in it only the swaddling clothes in which his body was wrapped. The myrrh-bearing women came to the place of the Lord’s burial ‘very early in the morning … at the rising of the sun’ (Mk 16:2) and did not find Jesus there, for neither the stone that blocked the entrance into the cave, nor the guard who kept watch by it, nor even death itself could withstand the great power of the Living God. ‘Hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure’ (Is 5:14), exultant Hades had been ready to engulf its most powerful enemy, yet instead froze in fear, for it had been illumined by the light of the Godhead. Christ has vanquished corruption and destroyed death.

 

Through the first man, who disobeyed the Maker and fell away from the Fount of eternal life, evil came into the world and sin reigned over people. Christ ‘the last Adam’ (1 Cor 15:45) has vanquished death of the spirit, death of the soul and death of the body. ‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,’ St. Paul tells us (1 Cor 15:22). All that we have lost in the first Adam we have acquired anew in Christ. The Lord’s Passover is truly the ‘great gift of the divine economy’ (St. Theodore the Studite).

 

Having overcome the human person’s alienation from his Maker, the Saviour has granted to us the possibility of being united with him. As St. John Damascene says, through the Cross of Christ we have been ‘granted resurrection … The gates of paradise have been opened to us, our nature now sits at the right hand of God and we have become the children of God and his heirs’ (An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book 4). We are all called upon to be worthy of this gift.

 

The Son of God, in assuming our nature, has become like us in all things apart from sin. Through his earthly life and sufferings on the Cross he has shown us an example of the greatest humility and obedience to the heavenly Father, an example of struggle against temptations and allurements, and through his resurrection he has destroyed the fetters of sin and granted to us the power and means to vanquish evil. It is in this struggle that one grows spiritually and becomes a morally free person.

 

We live at a time when freedom is often taken to mean moral chaos. Many sincerely believe that only power and riches, health and physical strength, bring liberation and in competing in service to the idols of this world they often fail in that which is most important, in the attainment of the true goal of life. The Saviour, who has risen from the tomb and granted to us freedom, has revealed to us this goal of knowing the Truth (see: Jn 8:32) and of life with God.

 

In destroying bodily death, Christ has promised eternal life, but not as an infinite continuation of the earthly path but as the transformation of the all human nature when the body will acquire new properties. It is in the Lord’s resurrection that the foreshadowing of our future resurrection is mysteriously revealed. In the coming kingdom of heaven, where there will be neither death, nor illness, nor parting, and not even time, ‘God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes’ (Rev 21:4), and joy will be never-ending and love eternal. The Lord’s victory over death gives us steadfast hope that in following him at his second and glorious coming we will rise again to a new life – life in unceasing communion with God.

 

Let us then share the joy in our risen Saviour with all those who are in need of attention and care: with the sick, the elderly, those who suffer or who are despondent, those who languish in places of confinement, and those people who are without means or a roof over their heads. And, in becoming like the witnesses to the resurrection – the holy apostles – let us with faith and boldness proclaim to those near and far the good news that Christ has truly risen! Amen.

 

 

Moscow

Pascha 2013


In other languages:

Share:
Telephone conversation held between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and the Primate of the Malankara Church of India

01.11.2024

Address by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the VIII World Congress of Compatriots Living Abroad

30.10.2024

Order of Right-Believing Prince Daniel of Moscow presented to Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk by Patriarch Kirill

24.10.2024

Primate of the Russian Church celebrates Divine Liturgy in the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius Lavra on the commemoration day of St. Sergius of Radonezh

09.10.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Little Vespers and Akathistos hymn to St. Sergius in the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius

07.10.2024

Message from the Primate of the Russian Church to His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia in connection with blasphemous act on the ruins of ancient Ulpiana

14.09.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates on the feast of the 300th anniversary of the transfer of relics of St.Alexander Nevsky to St. Petersburg

12.09.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates All-night Vigil at the Christ the Savior Cathedral on the eve of Transfiguration

18.08.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' met with the Ambassador of India to Russia

30.07.2024

Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Awa III: Ukrainian government’s support for schism and persecution of the major canonical Church is a religious pogrom against the faithful Orthodox Christians of that country

24.07.2024

Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church consecrates the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in the city of Tver.

21.07.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Liturgy at the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius on the commemoration day of the saint

18.07.2024

The Primate of the Russian Church celebrates All-night Vigil at the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius

17.07.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Little Vespers at the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius and reads akathist to the saint

17.07.2024

Patriarchal condolences on the death of Boris A. Nelyubov

14.07.2024

Telephone conversation held between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and the Primate of the Malankara Church of India

01.11.2024

DECR Chairman has begun his visit to India

31.10.2024

Work of the Commission for Dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is declared successful

24.10.2024

Synod acknowledges importance of bilateral projects carried out in collaboration with Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

24.10.2024

Order of Right-Believing Prince Daniel of Moscow presented to Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk by Patriarch Kirill

24.10.2024

DECR Chairman heads celebrations for the fifteenth anniversary of the consecration of the Dormition Church at the Russian embassy in Beijing.

19.10.2024

Saint Petersburg Theological Academy hosts conference on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) entitled ‘The Person of Metropolitan Nikodim in the History of the Church’.

16.10.2024

DECR Chairman meets with President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference

15.10.2024

Participants of the Divine Service at the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Presnya congratulated the DECR Chairman on his 40th birthday.

12.10.2024

Russian diplomat given Patriarchal award.

10.10.2024

DECR Chairman delivered a lecture to students of the Russian Orthodox University

09.10.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Little Vespers and Akathistos hymn to St. Sergius in the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius

07.10.2024

DECR Chairman takes part in festivities for the beginning of the academic year at the Saints Cyril and Methodius Postgraduate Institute.

03.10.2024

DECR chairman attends reception given by Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation

22.09.2024

Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk meets with delegation of Orthodox Church in America

16.09.2024

Metropolitan Hilarion: Many things in a person's life depend on faith

29.08.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Holy Spirit is the main treasure of the Christian soul

01.08.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: Holiness is a constant striving to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ

27.06.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: God does not want to condemn, but to save us

07.03.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Lord always grants to us the opportunity to display our talents

24.01.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Lord has imbued the waters of Jordan with his divine presence to wash away human sins

19.01.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: to repent means to change your way of life

17.01.2021

On commemoration day of St. Catherine, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk officiated at the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr In-the-Fields  the representation of the Orthodox Church in America

07.12.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: We can always show compassion for people

29.11.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion celebrates on commemoration day of St. Varlaam of Khutyn at the church of ‘Joy to All the Afflicted’ icon of the Mother of God

19.11.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: We should remember that the life of each human being is in the hands of God

06.11.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: For God there is nothing impossible

25.10.2020

Metropoplitan Hilarion: The cross which was an instrument of dishonourable execution becomes the symbol of salvation for millions of people

27.09.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: Eucharist is the wedding feast, to which Lord Jesus Christ invites each of us

13.09.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: Faith alone is not enough for salvation

30.08.2020

Page is available in the following languages
Feedback

Fields marked by * are mandatory required

Send a message
Рус Укр Eng Deu Ελλ Fra Ita Бълг ქარ Срп Rom عرب