EASTER PASTORAL LETTER: Let us be reborn, strengthened by faith (04/19/98)

EASTER PASTORAL LETTER

Let us be reborn, strengthened by faith

To the reverend presbyters, deacons, venerable monastics and spiritual sons and daughters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which God has entrusted to our archpastoral care beyond Ukraine:

May the peace and grace which flow from the Risen Lord be with you.

St. Luke, the inspired author of the Third Gospel, records a moving moment which occurred after Christ's crucifixion. He focuses attention on two disciples confused and profoundly overwhelmed by the tragedy of Christ's crucifixion. As a consequence of this, they abandoned Jerusalem and their brother apostles and sadly declared: "And we hoped that this was the one who was to save Israel." (Luke 24:21). They were convinced that all of their hopes and aspirations were interred with their dead Teacher. Deeply distraught, they forgot about the miracle they witnessed in Bethany when Christ restored life to Lazarus, who had been dead for four days.

They were greatly affected by the events of Great Friday. Overcome by sadness and despair, they walked somberly until Christ joined them, but they recognized Him not. The saintly physician and Evangelist Luke says: "but something prevented them from recognizing Him." (Luke 24:16). From what the Apostle Luke tells us, we know that even though they did not recognize Him, the Risen Lord, in conversing with them about Christ, raised their spirits. Encouraged by His words, they only recognized Him in the breaking of bread - the Eucharist, which was and remains the basis of the Church. Reborn and renewed by the Risen Lord, the two disciples quickly returned to the Holy City, where they told the apostles about all that occurred on the road to Emmaus, and how they recognized the Risen Christ in the breaking of bread.

This touching fragment from Holy Scripture points to two holy moments in the liturgy. In the first, Christ speaks to His faithful, instructs and elevates them by His words recorded in the Holy Gospel. In the second moment, the Eucharistic part of the liturgy we recognize Him in the "breaking of Bread," and by receiving Him in Holy Communion we become one with Him, our Risen Savior - the guarantor of our renewal and the One who gives a new birth to the hopes and desires of those who believe Him. Through the mystery of Holy Baptism, we Orthodox Christians experience Emmaus where the Risen Lord speaks to us daily saying: "Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (John 6:56).

The Paskha of the Lord is our return from Emmaus, armed with a strong faith in Christ, the Son of God, Who is the center of our life and actions. It often happens that we, like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, experience moments and days similar to Great Friday, days of spiritual darkness and suffering, when we, faint of heart, reiterate the words of the disciples "we expected ..."

The Paskha of the Lord is our return from Emmaus firmly convinced that Christ is closest to us when we suffer and does not withhold His help. This was the one and only hope of many of our brethren who, in this century, experienced the dark year of the artificial famine, the terror waged by Stalin and other forms of degradation. It was then that the crucified and risen Christ hungered and suffered with them and was with them in the imprisonment and exile they endured because of their faith in Him. Daily He was with our devout people and did not abandon them. They also did not turn away from Him, did not cease to hope and they were not deceived.

Having looked upon a land sanctified by the blood of countless martyrs and having heard prayers and entreaties, Christ showed His strength and gave our brethren a new reality - the Ukrainian state, free and independent, which is gradually gaining strength and perfecting its sovereign life. Christ also entrusted to this new reality the Apostolic Church for whom Ukraine opened its doors, anticipating unity so that there might be one nation and one Church, which in oneness would laud the Risen Lord together with the angels and glorify His resurrection in song from a pure heart.

Today the Church and society face difficult times. Society, especially that which is found in the so-called industralized world, places its hopes on material gain and, infatuated with itself, considers God and any and all manifestations of faith and piety - our spiritual treasure - outmoded and unessential. Immorality has reached a high level. The family - the foundation of society, in which parents, who form the "family Church" are called to be examples and role models of Christian morality - is disintegrating. How many souls have abandoned the Church or placed it on the level of a secular institution? This is due to a lack of understanding concerning the essence of the Church and apathy towards the sacred apostolic traditions in which the Church is anchored. Such ignorance and apathy create fertile ground for sectarianism, the aim of which is to snatch the Orthodox faith from the heart of our nation.

The Church - the Spotless Bride of Christ - must be at the center of the life of the believer, a moral force, a guiding light from emmaus to salvation. In the Church, Christ is the vine and we are the branches. The Church is that channel of grace that renews and sanctifies the bright light which illumines the path leading to Christ. In all things, in the nation and in the Church, love and unity are to abound, for where unity and love are absent, the Risen Christ is obviously ignored.

It was only yesterday that we, like the disciples from Emmaus, were overwhelmed by the events which took place on Golgotha. We were awestruck by the darkness that covered the earth, the rending in two of the temple curtain, the opening of tombs and the resurrection of saints who appeared to many, the piercing of Christ's side which emitted blood and water, and the profession of faith which echoed from the captain of the crucifixion detachment: "Truly this Man was the Son of God" (Mark 15:39).

Beloved in the Risen Lord! Each of us returns from Emmaus not deceived, but strong in faith. Every celebration of Christ's resurrection is the final trampling of death, and like the captain of the crucifixion detachment and the two disciples, we fall on our knees, glorify, express wonder and proclaim: "In truth He is the Son of God," Who by His death trampled death and opened paraidse for us, His children, regained and granted us everlasting life in His kingdom.

The Paskha of the Lord is our return to that pledge we made at Holy Baptism. In that pledge we renounced the false prophets and the deceit of the Evil One, whom Christ banished once and for always. We can, of our own free will, invite the Evil One into our lives, our churches and our communities. If we do this, then we abandon any hope of being with Christ, our Risen Lord, Creator and Savior, in eternity. Let us, rather, be reborn and strengthened by faith and hope in the Risen Savior. Let us be bearers of the faith and love which bring others to fullness of life in Christ.

It is in the joy of the resurrection that we greet and embrace, in the spirit of love and unity, the archpastors, pastors and Christ-loving faithful of the Church of Christ in Ukraine, and each and every one of you. May this year's celebration of Paskha - the Passover of the Lord - bring to all of you the fullness of the Lord's grace and love. Embracing you in the resurrection of Christ, we assure you of our prayers and love in the Risen Savior, Who fulfills our every expectation.

Requesting your prayers, we remain your devoted servants in the Lord's all-embracing and everlasting love.

Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!

Ý Wasyly
Metropolitan
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

Ý Constantine
Metropolitan
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. and Diaspora

Ý John
Archbishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

Ý Antony
Archbishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A.

Ý Vsevolod
Archbishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A.

Ý Yurij
Bishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

Ý Ioann
Bishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in England and Western Europe

Ý Jeremiah
Bishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Latin America