EASTER PASTORAL LETTERS: Let us be those people who preach the word of truth (04/15/01)

EASTER PASTORAL LETTERS

Let us be those people who preach the word of truth

Paschal archpastoral letter of the Permanent Conference of Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops beyond the Borders of Ukraine.

To the beloved clergy, monastic and faithful of the Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church beyond Ukraine:

May the peace and grace of the risen Savior be with all of you!

Christ is risen!

God has blessed us in the first year of the new century and the new millennium. We, who have been called to archpastoral service, welcome, in unity with you and with a sense of profound spiritual joy and exaltation, "this feast of feasts and solemnity of solemnities" - Pascha, the radiant day of our Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection.

Once again we hear stykhyry, troparia and kondakia - hymns of faith, especially the works of our father among the saints, John of Damascus, hymns that remind us that the Passover of the Lord is the central event of our Orthodox Ukrainian Christian life, an event that gave to all people access to heaven and sanctified the faithful of every age and generation.

The bells of our parish temples in lands of the Ukrainian Orthodox diaspora and in God-liberated-Ukraine announce Christ's victory over death, sin, injustice and slavery to all people. They also serve to announce our readiness to be those people who, by their daily life, a life full of joyous and sad experience, give witness at home, at work, every hour and every day, whether convenient or inconvenient, to the fact that Christ is the Lord, our Way, Truth and Life. He invites each person who acknowledges Him and builds his or her life on the principles of the Gospel of Life, to be a sanctifying agent in a society that seeks needed renewal and sanctification.

As believers, we Orthodox Ukrainians declare before the contemporary world, a world which has closed its eyes and ears to Christ, that by His resurrection our Savior completed, after his voluntary suffering, crucifixion and death, His work of salvation out of love for all people and sealed His work of salvation with His greatest miracle and established upon it His Church and made of us a new people of God. All of this is capsulized in the first Irmos of the Pasha, "from death to life and from earth to heaven has He led us."

Upon this foundation - the Resurrection of Christ - the Apostles built their preaching so that our faith might be unambiguous, firm and unswerving. Upon this same foundation our ancestors established Orthodox Christian life in Ukraine. We err not when we affirm that the faith in the risen Lord so nourished and strengthened them that they remained faithful to Christ despite the threats levied again them. We err not when we say that contemporary Ukraine enjoys freedom and statehood thanks to its God-pleasing sons and daughters who remained faithful to the Gospel of Life.

This Pascha, the first of the new century and millennium, challenges us Orthodox Christians to be steadfast in our profession of the faith, which we embraced at Holy Baptism. It challenges us to be a people who proclaim the good news concerning the fundamental truth of Orthodox Christianity - that Christ, the Son of God, voluntarily ascended the wood of the Cross and by His suffering, death and resurrection gained eternal life for all who believe in Him and keep His commandments. He made of us a new people - a new Israel that glorifies the Heavenly Father in spirit and truth.

Let us also remember that Christ's Resurrection is bound with His sufferings and death. Without death there would be no resurrection. The reality comes to us through our liturgical life, which has its genesis with the empty tomb of the Lord in the city of Jerusalem, the empty tomb from which the myrrh-bearing women and we learned of the good news, "He is not here, He is risen!"

We appeal to you to be those people who preach the word of the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who sanctified and renewed us and invites us to a most intimate union with Him. We embrace you in the joy of this feast of new life - the Passover of the Lord - and our brethren in ancestral Ukraine on this 10th anniversary of independence. We lament the religious and economic difficulties that have befallen them, but since we know that a firm spiritual foundation is the guarantee of a complete renaissance, we appeal to the risen Christ with this brief prayer: Savior of the world and King of the new creation, lift our minds and hearts to Your kingdom.

Bestowing upon all of you the blessing of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we assure you, the archpastors, pastors and our devout brethren in Ukraine, of our continual love and prayers, and request your prayers.

Your servants in the risen Lord:

Ý Wasyly, Metropolitan
Ý Constantine, Metropolitan
Ý John, Archbishop
Ý Antony, Archbishop
Ý Vsevolod, Archbishop
Ý Ioan, Archbishop
Ý Yurij, Bishop
Ý Jeremiah, Bishop

Given in South Bound Brook, N.J.; Winnipeg, Canada; London, England; Canberra, Australia; and Curitiba, Brazil; on the feast of Our Lord's resurrection, April 15 in the 2001st year from the Nativity of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.

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