“O come all ye faithful, let us worship Christ’s holy Resurrection; for lo, through the Cross is joy come into all the world…” —Resurrection stichera of Matins
The celebration of Holy Pascha is the celebration of Christ’s triumph over death. It is the converting of the most cruel and demeaning method of execution used by the pagan Roman Empire into the banner of salvation and eternal life. It is the confounding of all earthly “wisdom” by the light of God’s eternal Truth. Indeed, “through the Cross is joy come into all the world.”
Unfortunately, however, not all in this world seek this great joy, nor do those who apparently seek it truly understand its meaning. The true joy of Pascha is not found in the celebratory services or the ending of the restrictions of Holy Lent and the earthly celebrations that follow. The true joy and meaning of Pascha is found in the knowledge that, through Christ’s sacrifice upon the Cross, the gates of heaven have been reopened to us. It is found in the realization that, through His love for mankind, we have the gift of cleansing our souls from sin through Holy Confession, and that, by the breaking of His Pure Body and the spilling of His Precious Blood, we may be renewed. The true joy of Pascha is recognized while standing next to an open casket or before the grave of a loved one, knowing that—even though death will come to all of us—it is not the end, but that everlasting life and blessedness await us in the Kingdom of God. May we be forever grateful for this true joy!
Yet again, however, we live in perilous times, and so it is important that we always remember that without the Cross, there could be no Resurrection. Both in our Russian and Ukrainian homelands, as well as here in America and throughout the world, evil continues to ravage humanity through war, the persecution of Christians, and the moral decay of our society. How can we celebrate Christ’s victory over sin, death, and evil when we are surrounded by such misfortunes? I believe that our First Hierarch, Metropolitan Nicholas, gives a strong answer to this question in his Paschal Epistle as follows:
“Pondering the tribulations of our time, we understand that the Son of God became man, preached His Gospel, worked miracles, died and [arose] in order to save the world in which the righteous suffer persecutions, but where sinners perish. God, ‘Who loves the righteous and is merciful to sinners,’ seeks the salvation of all. It is in this unity with Christ together with all of mankind that we must fervently pray for the salvation of the righteous and the sinners, for the great mercy of God for the former and for the latter, that it is not our version of the truth that reigns nor anyone else’s, but the truth of God. That, like His victory over evil, sin, and death always leads to love, [there might be] the triumph of unity and the victory of Goodness and Beauty. Thus prayed Metropolitan Hilarion (+May 3/16, 2022) of blessed memory, who always shone with Paschal joy and served as an example of good Christian living. May we likewise pray as we approach the first anniversary of his repose.
“I take this opportunity to ask the archpastors, pastors, monastics, and the millions of faithful children of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, Archimandrite of the ancient Kiev Caves Lavra, to accept from us all the Paschal kiss of peace, empathy, and Christian love! May the Lord help them continue upon the path of witness, which Apostle Paul described to all Christians in his Epistle to the Corinthians: ‘By honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.’” (II Cor. 8:10) —His Eminence, Metropolitan Nicholas, First Hierarch of ROCOR
“Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered, and
let those who hate Him flee before Him;
As smoke vanishes, so shall they vanish, and as wax
melts before the flame;
Even so, let the ungodly perish at the presence of
God, but let the righteous rejoice;
This is the day which the Lord has made, let us
rejoice and be glad in it!”
—Paschal Stichera
God bless! Father Alexander
