EASTER PASTORAL LETTER (04/14/96)

EASTER PASTORAL LETTER

The Paschal mystery of the risen Christ

Paschal Archpastoral Encyclical of the Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. and Diaspora.

To the venerable clergy, deaconate in Christ, venerable monastics and the devout faithful of the Church, entrusted to our archpastoral care.

May the peace of our risen Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, be with you! Christ is Risen!

Together with the myrrh-bearing women, we return once more to the empty tomb of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Together with His faithful disciples we proclaim "Christ is risen from the dead," not because of that which once occurred, but because He is constantly with us and is experienced by the strong and the weak in faith. In the Paschal Liturgy of our Ortho-dox Church the joy of Christ's Resurrection and life bestowed by Him, was not of a singular event, framed in time and locked in history, but a continual reality of His Resurrection in our life and in the world.

In the Paschal Liturgy we, with tears of sheer gladness, embrace one another, cognizant that the risen Christ is with us. Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen! These are not mere ritual words by which we point with pride to the splendor of the Paschal Liturgy of our Church. These words are the proclamation of faith of each individual who lives in the radiance of the glory of the risen Lord and in His continual love - of the individual for whom Christ is in truth the fulfillment of all, his or her guiding Light. We speak, dearly beloved, of the Paschal mystery, which invites all, not to a symbolic figure, but to the real risen Christ, the son of God, our Redeemer, Benefactor and Teacher, present in the Eucharist.

Therefore, it is not strange that those who perceive the meaning of this mystery are accustomed to approach the risen Christ and receive him in Holy Communion. They receive Him not by reason of coercion or custom, but because they desire to be one with Him; for they know that every time they partake of the Daily Bread - His Body, and drink from the Eucharistic Cup - His blood, they recall His death and acknowledge the ever-present reality of His Resurrection.

The Paschal mystery invites us to walk in the light of Christ the Victorious, and receive Him, for He sanctifies us, dignifies us, and favors us with His immeasurable love and kindness. In the waters of Baptism we entered into the tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ, and there we witnessed the death of death; we exited from these waters together with Christ, reborn by these saving waters and the Spirit and were deemed worthy of the Paschal gift - eternal life. In celebrating the consistent reality of Christ's Resurrection, we must understand that our task is the constant renewal of self, so that we might become genuine instruments of Him, the fruits of whose Resurrection cannot be confined by ritual, history or time.

As we celebrate this constant reality, one which profoundly impacts upon the sanctity and dignity of every person, we recall how the grace of Christ's Resurrection caused the rebirth of our ancestors, a rebirth led by the blessed Princess Olha and the sainted Prince Volodymyr, how it united the then Rus'-Ukraine into one faith and initiated a new era in the history of Ukraine - an era of grace and truth, which gave birth to a multitude of saints of God who, by their devout lives, contributed to the spiritual enhancement of Ukraine throughout its history.

On the occasion of this feast, we, together with you, greet those to whom we are related by faith and blood - our brethren in Ukraine. In so doing we embrace them in the transfiguring grace of this event. Firmly convinced that they - the hierarchs, clergy and devout faithful - baptized and vested in the risen Christ, for whom Christ in the Eucharist is the unifying force, will, as do we, find the necessary strength to overcome all difficulties. We are called to be servants in Christ's Church, and for the fulfillment of this holy task we were granted diverse gifts. The mission of our Church, which is the salvation and sanctification of souls, must be pivotal in our consideration as people mature in the faith. We must be sure that our celebration this year bears witness to our resolute desire to be the best models and instruments of the Grace of the Resurrection, which continually sanctifies and transfigures all. It is our desire that you experience this spiritual joy in your family, parish and Church.

We, to whom the Lord has entrusted the spiritual care and oversight of the Church, pray that this year's Paschal joy brings to you, upon whom we invoke the blessing of the Father, Son and Holy spirit, success in faith, life and spiritual understanding, cou-rage in the various testings which you face, and fortitude in the fulfillment of the daily obligations entrusted to you. May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead, the love of God the Father, who out of love for us sent His Son, and fellowship in the Spirit of Truth descend upon you.

Your servants in the Lord,
ÝConstantine, Metropolitan
ÝAntony, Archbishop
ÝIoan, Bishop
ÝAnatolij, Metropolitan
ÝPaisij, Bishop
ÝJeremiah, Bishop

Issued on the Passover of the Lord, in the year of grace 1996 in the Ukrainian Orthodox Center of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle, in the God-protected town of South Bound Brook, N.J.

| Home Page |